#shiruakh

[kradogsrats]

Timeline Revisions, Archdragons, and the Cosmic Order

This was supposed to be a post about Shiruakh and Laurelion, but I got derailed momentarily by discovering that there's actually no evidence that Sol Regem was the first Dragon King, meaning the Dragon Monarchy did not start only 1200 years ago, which is something I based like 80% of my history speculation and analysis on. As stupid as I feel about this and as interesting as it was in terms of elf/dragon/human political climate... well, it has made less and less sense as we learn about the other Great Ones and the Cosmic Order. So probably for the best.

Revised/Updated Timeline

Let's do a reset on what we actually know:

Pictured: The official timeline slide as presented at SDCC 2019.

5,000 years ago: Primal elves emerged, elves and dragons were not allied (i.e. presumably the dragon monarchy did not yet exist), and it sucked to be human.

3,000 years ago: the archdragon Shiruakh and the Startouch elf Laurelion battle to the death.

2,000 years ago: Humans acquire (primal) magic, and Elarion is founded. Humanity ascends toward a golden age.

1,200 years ago: The Dragon Prince Anak Araw ascends to the dragon monarchy throne as Dragon King Sol Regem.

1,000 years ago: Sol Regem confronts Ziard, the first dark mage, and threatens Elarion before being blinded with corruption. Luna Tenebris ascends the dragon monarchy throne and expels humanity from the eastern half of Xadia. The archdragons form the Border to keep the two halves of the continent separate.

300 years ago: Luna Tenebris dies without a suitable heir. The Sunfire elf Queen Aditi vanishes before she can resolve the ensuing succession crisis. Aaravos, the "Fallen Star," is defeated and imprisoned by the Archdragons and the Orphan Queen. Avizandum ascends to the dragon monarchy throne.

2 years ago: Avizandum is killed by the human King Harrow. His mate Zubeia ascends the dragon monarchy throne, with their son Azymondias as Dragon Prince.

"Now": Aaravos escapes captivity, but is returned to his heavenly form until his stars realign in 7 years. The archdragons Zubeia, Rex Igneous, and Domina Profundus perish in the battle. Azymondias is the last known living archdragon, and the status of the dragon monarchy is unknown.

and here's things we know happened, but not exactly when:

Between 5,000 and 2,000 years ago: the Startouch elf child Leola teaches humans the secrets of primal magic. Her violation of the Cosmic Order is reported by Dragon Prince Anak Araw, and she is executed for it. Her death forms the Sea of the Castout in Eastern Xadia.

Between 3,000 years ago and 300 years ago: the fang of Shiruakh is forged by humans into the Novablade. At some point, it winds up in the hands of the Celestial elves at the Starscraper.

Between 1,000 years ago and Now: the city of Elarion is either destroyed or naturally falls into ruin. (Anyone who can actually cite a reliable source for Elarion being destroyed is more than welcome to do so, otherwise I will die on the "we have no evidence that Elarion was ever destroyed, actually" hill.)

Sometime before 300 years ago, and probably before 1,000 years ago: the (arch?)dragon Aithne Solaire, mate of Anak Araw/Sol Regem, is killed, by him unwittingly burying her alive in an episode of rage. (I say "probably before 1,000 years ago" because she presumably would have succeeded him as Dragon Queen, if she was alive.)

Between 1,000 years ago and 300 years ago: the modern human kingdoms are founded. The mage wars end as the western half of Xadia is depleted of magical resources. (Unclear whether those two events are directly related.)

Some Speculation: The Archdragons, the Cosmic Order, and Shiruakh/Laurelion

This was originally supposed to be a post about Shiruakh and Laurelion, but let's rewind a bit. We know the Great Ones (a.k.a. the "First Elves") built or instituted something to either create an ideal Cosmic Order or preserve one they had foreseen, because that's what Aaravos wants to destroy as his revenge.

This Cosmic Order seems to be tied to an idealized state of stability—humans acquiring magic is known to be the first step in a descent to "chaos"—but also hierarchy. Archdragons are at the top. Elves venerate them. Humans are lesser beings than both. I think there's a very strong chance that the dragon monarchy was instituted either by the Great Ones, or by some agreement between them and the archdragons. The dragon monarchy oversees and preserves the Cosmic Order while the Great Ones... do whatever it is they do, because they don't actually seem very interested.

Destroying the archdragons (instead of just Sol Regem in particular) could be on Aaravos's agenda simply because they betrayed him 300 years ago, but I suspect they are considered a foundational pillar of the Cosmic Order in some way, and taking out three of the last remaining four was a pretty big win for him. We don't know where archdragons come from—like if a primal has no archdragon, whether one will just... coalesce. If that's the case, it clearly either takes more than 300 years or there's some kind of problem with Luna Tenebris's death and the Moon primal (possible).

Now, as for Shiruakh and Laurelion:

I'm assuming we'll get a translation for Shiruakh's name at some point, the best I could get was Hebrew shir ("song") and ruach/ruakh ("spirit", "breath"). Personally, given Shiruakh's coloration and the fact that her scale empowers Claudia with fire, I would lay money on her being an archdragon of the Sun. Since sometime after her death, Anak Araw is Dragon Prince, a Sun archdragon dynasty on the throne also makes sense. I would also have zero surprise if she was Anak Araw's mother, the mate of the at-the-time Dragon King, just because that would set off some animosity, there. Especially if she was hunted down because of some Cosmic Order bullshit, which would also be delicious—him and Aaravos angry for the same reason.

So why did she and Laurelion fight? Well, we just don't know.

Hmmmm. But no, we don't know.

Now, I would bet that either the Death of the Immortal poem was written long after the actual events, or else large chunks of it are missing, since Kazi skimming over "Laurelion fought an archdragon and its bite killed him" and/or "and then he exploded" would be... kind of weird. The archdragons seem to be aware of what will happen when Aaravos's mortal form dies, so presumably they wouldn't be too keen on delivering a suicidal bite if there are other options available... but the other option is the Novablade, which has the same problem. The Orphan Queen, having the same problem as the main cast, may have "spared" Aaravos less out of some mysterious compassion and more out of also sparing herself and everything in what looks like probably a multi-kilometer radius.

I (and I think a lot of others) had just kind of assumed that Laurelion was targeted for death because of some transgression, but now it seems at least equally likely that he was enforcing the Cosmic Order against Shiruakh going rogue. Given the close relationship that's implied between the archdragons and the Great Ones, with no clear point for it to have soured (except with Aaravos, specifically), it seems unlikely that the archdragons or the elves would feel the need for such a weapon. Which is consistent with the fact that, as we now see in the illustration of Aaravos's tale, the Novablade was actually forged by humans.

Given the trajectory of human civilization over the timeline, I wouldn't expect them to have the technology or knowledge to work draconic ivory that way a thousand years before they acquire primal magic. On the other hand, if Shiruakh's tooth was kicked around for a couple thousand years, why did they suddenly feel the need for a Startouch elf-killing weapon? Is this just a case of dick-swinging, like driving a car that can do 250 MPH when you're never going to go above maybe 90, and that's if you're a huge asshole (which you probably are)? "My sword is made from an archdragon's tooth and can kill a god"?

Was Aaravos behind this, somehow? I would not be at all surprised if Aaravos was behind this, somehow. It's unclear whether one Great One could kill another in single combat, or otherwise force them back to the heavenly plane—if not, the advantages of such a weapon might outweigh the risks for the person with the most motivation to dispatch other Startouch elves. A contingency.

(But I personally also think that Aaravos's manipulation was behind things like... the formation of the Border, so.)

Anyway, since either arc 3 or the leadup to it will presumably involve a lot of frantic researching, maybe we'll finally get some of the Orphan Queen story and learn some of what she figured out.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

deserted

If Aaravos going nova

wiped Lux Aurea off the map,

then did Shiruakh making Laurelion go nova

create the Midnight Desert?

I always wondered why it looked like a whole black mountain just exploded. Maybe one did.

If the Midnight Desert's size is how big the destruction zone was for Laurelion, I guess we could estimate how much of an impact Aaravos's nova made on the map, too.

Looks like there could be a really unfortunate area that got hit with both novas. I wonder what happens there. Glass? Obsidian? A big crevice in the ground? Extremely powerful Star Touch resistant sand? *rubs my worldbuildy hands together*

[its-leethee]

--7x07

there's just something so deliciously compelling about how we were shown these two battles back to back

[raayllum]

Quick thoughts on the Scale of Shiruakh:

It seems at first to be a carrier primarily of Sun magic, hence why it emits light, turns Runaan's arrow to ash, and de-corrupts Claudia's face (similar to Viren consuming sunray butterflies for the same thing). However, just summoning the amulet does make her eyes glow the telltale dark magic purple, so who knows.

We do know, alternatively, that the scale armour Claudia summons is dark magic adjacent if not it outright, because the spell to summon it is what turns more of her hair white. It also drains the green out of the leg Terry made for her, replacing it with purple (which, dear lord the symbolism of her entire character design at this point).

The fact she can use the scale without destroying it, though, and for repeated uses, does mean something interesting. It's the closest we've ever seen anything else function like a primal stone beyond an inherent primal connection itself. This makes sense, since archdragons are the embodiment of their primal in a lot of ways, but it does open up an interesting alternative to the arduous task of making primal stones (which, if even just Moon always requires grounded up unicorn bones, may not actually be a long term solution for a lack of an arcanum connection). Perhaps one day dragons could lend their scales willingly as a replacement...

[pansitow26]

Mientras estaba mirando el Mapa estelar, se me ocurrió la teoría de que tal vez este dragón que se ve sea Shiruakh; no lo sé, se parecen demasiado.

Definitivamente aún nos falta descubrir mucho de Shiruakh

[zaphand]

then, she laid before me her scales,

her sword,

and her blindfold

and told me to choose.

[xadianglyphs]

The Dragonscale Amulet: Theory

And finally... literally the reason I made this entire blog. Basically, back in March we had this:

Anyway, I dropped literally everything to catalog the entire breadth of writing, runes, glyphs, etc. in the series so far, all in order to figure out what the hell this means. One theory that has evolved in the meantime is that the symbol on the amulet represents an acorn or seed, but I would like to propose another.

First, let's look at the amulet and symbol, themselves.

The amulet is composed of a dragon scale (allegedly, at least... we haven't seen dragon scales separated from dragons anywhere else) that is red, highly reflective (whether naturally or polished after the fact), and about palm-sized. By that scale, it probably comes from a dragon about Pyrrah's size or a little larger, unless it was carved down to a smaller size when crafted into an amulet. The scale is anchored in a gold setting, with a shape and decorations that have a fair amount of similarity to the Staff of Ziard. (Maybe we should have anticipated an Aaravos/Startouch association.)

As for the symbol, accounting for perspective (to the best of my abilities), we have this:

The symbol is etched directly into the scale's surface. Its lines are less smooth than the ones decorating the setting, which could indicate that it was added at another time (earlier/later) with a less precise tool, or just that gouging designs into dragon scales is hard.

In terms of similarity to other symbols we've seen so far, it could come from a similar system as the symbols in Infantis Sanguine. It also has similarities to a primal rune, though the sharp, wide corners are unusual. Either way, I think this is a pictographic symbol representing an item or concept as a whole, not an alphabetic character—this isn't Laurelion personally going around with a blinged-out "L" necklace.

So what could it be? Well, I propose that it's a heart. Like so:

My initial impression had the horizontal top "crossbar" as the pulmonary arteries, and the vertical center line as the aorta/vena cava, but you could also look at the crossing vertical and diagonal lines as dividing the space into the four chambers of the heart. However, I think there's another direction to go with that diagonal, so let's put a pin in that for a moment.

Why a heart? Because there has a sizeable amount of fairly convincing speculation post-s4 that the dark space in Aaravos's chest is either figuratively or literally representing his heart having been removed. @raayllum's are a lot more coherent, but I've also done my share.

I'm sure someone had this thought before I did, if only because I was super late to the fandom. But I had it!

... okay right, back to the amulet.

Aaravos's heart is also a key part of the "Laurelion and Aaravos are the same person" theory, in part because Laurelion's heart is the center of everything we currently know about them.

Laurelion's heart was pierced by either the as-yet-unnamed Novablade itself or a piece of draconic ivory (i.e. a dragon's tooth) that was later forged into the Novablade, after which "immortal Laurelion was no more."

Aside from creating an additional connection between Laurelion and dragons, making the dragon scale of the amulet even more interesting, let's go back to the symbol in light of the whole "pierced" thing.

Now, TDP has a fair amount of Christian symbolism and imagery to it, some purely because of how deeply Christianity is embedded in western culture but some also definitely intentional. Aaravos was initially framed as a Prometheus figure, but it became progressively more clear that he's a Lucifer one—a tempter, a rebel angel, out to destroy creation. They absolutely know what they're doing with things like the *checks watch* 2019 Aaravos birthday post:

So don't think it's completely insane to take that, Laurelion's death[citation needed], and the amulet symbol, and think of this:

Depictions of the Sacred Heart don't seem to usually show the spear, just the wound, but I wasn't raised Catholic so work with me here. (If you want to get even more Catholic, there's also the Immaculate Heart of Mary, which is almost always depicted with a sword piercing it diagonally all the way through because she's... sad? Look, I don't know.) The idea is that it represents the boundless and fervent love of God expressed through the suffering of Jesus, which... whatever.

I do think it's interesting, however, that we are primed to question Laurelion's "death" and concepts of mortality/immortality, death of identity, etc. in the context of Startouch elves because while there's definitely a possibility that an immortal being stripped of their immortality is a punishment, there's also... a lot of cultural precedent for that as a willing gift of love to a mortal/mortals, whether you're looking at Jesus, Castor and Pollux, or Arwen and Aragorn. So we'll see how that plays out.

Anyway, that's my weird fringe theory: the amulet symbol represents Laurelion's pierced heart.

Probably time to worry about Claudia. (As if we weren't, already.)

Bonus:

[inkasrain]

Three thousand years ago, the archdragon Shiruakh battled the Startouch elf Laurelion. Shiruakh delivered the fatal bite, but in the cosmic storm of the Great One's death throes, the dragon perished as well.

Shiruakh: Shir Ruakh, Wind Song (Hebrew)

[knuffi516]

I think the battlefield of Laurelion and Shiruakh was the Umber Tor:

The shape is almost identical to the current mountain and the rich mineral deposit can be a sideproduct of the massive explosions of both opponets.

[dragonprincedrabbles]

The generator has been updated to add characters and prompts for s7 and also some that I discovered never got added for s6, whoops.

Also cleaned up some of the less-good prompts that were really just filling out the initial list.

Update Details

Added the following characters:

Lira, Minor Female Character (moved from Non-Series Characters)

Lyrennus, Minor Male Character

Shiruakh, Laurelion, and Aaron and Sam were not added because I decided to exclude historical characters who have a name but no other information, and Aaron and Sam are really only at about the level of Aegis and Embertail and I removed them a while ago.

Removed the following characters:

The Jailer, Minor Female Character

The Orphan Queen, Minor Female Character

Added the following prompts:

Ancient and Disturbing

Banther Lodge

Brothers

Celestial Order

Clarity, Light and Purpose

Complicated

Fire Rubies

Half-truths

I'm Still Me

The In-Between

Inversion

The Jailer

Moonberry Surprise

My Blood for Justice

My Breath for Freedom

My Eyes for Truth

My Strength for Honor

The Orphan Queen

The Star Within You

A Thousand Eyes

Timeblind

True Heart

Unfinished Business

Wedding Cake

Well of the Forgotten

Removed the following prompts:

Banther

Blue Roses

Brightbell

Bumble-Scorp

Crimson Orchids

Deep Magic

Earthblood

Fart Flowers

Flowers of Elarion

Garlaath's Bandolier of Skulls

The Hollow Wood

Milkfruit

Moonberries

Moonshadow

Primal Sources

Purple Pentapus

Skywing

Sunfire

Tidebound

[kradogsrats]

Sarai: righteous, self-sacrificing mother-martyr

Tiadrin: righteous, self-sacrificing mother-martyr

Neha and Annika: righteous, self-sacrificing mother-martyrs

Zubeia: righteous, self-sacrificing mother-martyr

Lissa: that bitch who abandoned her children without having the decency to at least die about it

[beautifulterriblequeen]

spin cycle

Shiruakh and Laurelion fought 3000 years ago - this may be the oldest known part of the cycle we know so far. And King Ezran is one of the newest.

Do you think starweaver spiders exist because they spin the cycle?

They are, after all, bugs.

[fynnlink]

Why: Because Aaravos manipulated the Dragons, Elves and Humans which was uncovered by the Orphan Queen, Zubeia explained it in Season 4 during the ride back to the storm spire. [S4 E4]

How: With the Arch Dragons "beating [Aaravos] at his own game" and then probably similar to Callum's plan only with Akiyu and the Jailer imprisoning Aaravos in the pearl. [S4 E4]

Anak Arao/Anak Arow (Sol Regem is his royal name) told the Cosmic Order (the Startouch Elves' Council) about Leola thus dooming her. Aaravos hated Sol Regem for this and the other Arch Dragons for imprisoning him.

Hasn't been explored yet but at some point she had or found the key of Aaravos

Ziard is the first or was one of the first human's to learn dark magic from Aaravos. Aaravos also gave him the Staff (later known as the Staff of Ziard) which Aaravos stole from the Starscraper "It was a gift from one of the Great Ones" (paraphrased) [S3 E1]. Ziard was Aaravos' first domino to ruin the order his daughter was murdered for. Elarion was the first great human city due to it's citizens' use of (dark) magic.

DID THEY JUST KILL HIM WITH ABSOLUTELY NO EXPLANATION?

Aaravos explained early in the season that Startouch Elves (Laurelion) can die to an Archdragon's bite. The Novablade is forged from Shiruakh's tooth so either it or Avizandum's bite are enough to kill Aaravos.

Also this isn't the end of his story he literally won. He defeated his greatest enemies and wiped the board of any threat and now just has to wait a few years.

wait a fucking minute...

We still don't know why and how Aaravos was imprisoned.

And what exactly his beef with Sol Reg and the other archdragons was about.

And what his relationship was with the Orphan Queen.

Oh yeah! And also his relationship with Ziard... and city of Elarion...

DID THEY JUST KILL HIM WITH ABSOLUTELY NO EXPLANATION?

I'M SO PISSED OFF

[raayllum]

So it is time to revisit the lore potential of the dragon with what looks like a Celestial elf / star symbol behind them or...

[xadianglyphs]

[kradogsrats]

me, sitting bolt upright in a cold sweat: we have an archdragon skeleton with a mouth full of teeth in the Valley of Graves