#tdp homunculus

[mars-rnr]

itching to make pfp/ icons of The Being/ Sir Sparklepuff from The Dragon Prince.

He deserves it after (unintentionally) foiling Aaravos's plan.

[willow-dino]

Sometimes a family is a human mage who will die tomorrow, an ancient star elf ghost imprisoned for terrible crimes, and their maybe biological bug child created to be a sacrifice <3

[julesdraws]

I tried drawing ethari (fail) then i was like ohhhhh let's try aaravos (fail) somehow ended up doodling this guy instead😂😭🤌

(Click for better quality, tumblr butchered this one)

[dragonfly1302]

Ohh, daddy Aaravos indeed

[freelyhauntedduck]

Aaravos: "Our child." Points to Sir Sparklepuff.

[elfboyeros]

I GONNA FUCKING SAY IT: The Homunculus has always made me uncomfortable

[wheretwofacesmeet]

[squiblysabre]

ah yes. me

my dark mage girlfriend

her zombie father

and his weird homunculus creature

[raayllum]

CAN’T BELIEVE CANON REALLY GAVE ME CLAUDIA AND SIR SPARKLEPUFF BONDING TODAY IS MY DAY

[ana-cantskywalker]

My honest reaction watch s4.ep4 (through the looking glass) when the being came out of the chrysalis

WHAT IN THE GOLLUM ISSS THAT-

[disappointed-time-traveller]

Sir Sparklepuff!!! He deserves more votes at the very least!!!

[inkasrain]

Viren: Not the Cliff but the Road

I'm pretty sure that most of The Viren Conversation has been had (and had, and had!), so I don't want to beat a dead (disgraced, former) High Mage. Howeverrrr, there is one element of the way this character finale played out that remains one of my favorite things to come out of the TDP room, and I just want to talk about it a little. (As always, just my take, not canon.)

I have a strong personal bias against the idea of death as an inherently redeeming act in fiction. We are so accustomed to the idea that a succesful hero's arc will conclude in sacrifice, and that therefore a reformed villain's arc must end in the ultimate sacrifice, that we don't think to probe the origins of this concept. To me, this is basically just deeply ingrained Christian pedagogy masquerading as narrative fact. I don't personally think that there is anything inherently salvational or goodness-proving about this arc format, or that it should be the natural default for stories like this. Death does not cleanse; life does. So theoretically, I should be unhappy with the way Viren's arc ends in season 6. He -- a bad person -- dies doing a good thing. He sacrifices his life for Soren and the people of Katolis and thus is redeemed.... right? If I thought that Viren's change arc ends with his death, sure. But that's not how I see it. For me, Viren's arc draws to a close before the attack on Katolis, and before his death. I don't actually think he has a singular redemptive moment. Instead, it is the sum total of his choices and actions from 509 to 606 -- the ways he makes use of his life -- that are cumulatively cleansing. Viren has always thought of himself as someone who makes "the hard choices" but he's been pretty good at wriggling (or being wriggled) out of the consequences. As of 509, that changes; he changes. He makes choices that will be painful for him. That will place a burden on him. And that, most importantly, he believes he will have to live with. There is nothing short-term about the decisions Viren makes after that point in the story. They are all the actions of a man who has finally realized that he can (MUST) live with the consequences of his "hard choices." I'd even include choosing not to kill the Homunculus in that category, as the death Viren faces there is a quiet, lonely, and utterly unremarkable surrender -- all things his character in many ways been defined as working so strongly against.

If there is a true peak of his arc, I personally see it as the moment in 606 when Viren burns his letter to Soren. He has gone through the agony of exposing his darkest moments and can move forward with the clarity that such an experience provides. But even more importantly, he chooses not to burden Soren with that knowledge -- and in doing so, accepts that he will live with Soren's anger and blame. He will not justify himself at Soren's expense; he sacrifices any hope of receiving love from his son because he knows those feelings are the cumulative consequence of his own actions. Viren's death is a culmination, if anything, of his love for Soren and his arc of shifting the focus of his life to others. His death does not retroactively prove his goodness, does not justify his past. It is a sad resolution of a man's struggles, nothing more. So I don't see Viren's choice to sacrifice himself as a redemptive act, because I really don't think he needs one. He is doing the work already, living the life, walking the more difficult road. It's bittersweet that the road ends, but they all do. The important thing is, for me, that Viren isn't defined by the act that ends his life, some kind of spectacular salvational swan dive off a cliff. Instead, he is marked by the journey, the change he underwent to get to that point in his story. (And like, I was a very minor participant in the orchestration of this arc, but I'm ridiculously proud to have been a small part of this kind of storytelling.)

[classydreamlandalpaca]

Me after Season 4: Okay the homunculus was way creepier when it was that caterpillar thing. This feels like a downgrade. I hope TDP has a good reason for this new elf butterfly form it has.

Aaravos to Viren in Season 5: The homuclous is our child and you need to sacrifice it if you are going to live.

Me: Wow, that's messed up!

[thrandilf]

TDP immediately post S5:

Thousands of butterflies, dead at his feet.

Their… baby… wouldn't join them.

"You deserve to live," said Viren, speaking with more gravity than he ever had to Sir Sparklepuff.

"You deserve to live," mimicked the homunculus.

Viren minutely shook his head.

[sagegreenfrogs]

sir sparklepuff my beloved

whenever I explain to my friends (who haven't seen tdp) sir sparklepuff they're so confused and I love it bc the conversation is this, every time.

me: I mean if you say it like that, yes, this is a bug turned homunculus created by dark magic, born into this world for evil and its only purpose is to guide messed-up people to the worst being on the planet, and then just die, and yes, some of its first comprehensible words were "blood of child," but ITS SO PRECIOUS AND SCRUNKLY AND I LOVE IT ASGHDJAGDSDFSDF DONT YOU WANNA JUST GIVE HIM A HUG-

friend:

w h a t t h e e v e r i o v i n g h e l l

sir sparklepuff <3

[goldenworldsabound]

Wait hold up

Okay Vi//ren Clayman comparisons under the cut, will contain tdp s5 spoilers smdjjdb

First of all both becoming parents of unexpected creatures in the last week has me smdbsndjhd (homunculus and ant). This one is mostly a joke

Both die while being influenced by an outside force to make really bad choices (not that they were paragons before) and then get a chance at redemption

Both fancy

Both care about their families a lot, though sometimes they get caught up and make decisions that aren't good for said families, or aren't confiding in those family members

Both intimidating at first but actually dorks

Fluffy hair

That's all I got this was mostly a joke but like. Also I guess a callout post for me- KWBWMWBJWV I love my fucking traumatized men who shatter my heart 500 times repeatedly-