#tdp s5 thoughts

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Hi @beautifulterriblequeen

I know we have three seasons of TDP left, but with some of the out of context spoilers and teases of S5, it's going to become and make S1 even heavier and more angstier. Because I remember seeing the first round of Discord Q&A back in November, and the writers teased that there will be emotional scenes regarding relationships from events of S1-S3. If we get moonfam flashbacks in the next three seasons, I believe it'll make S1 even more heartbreaking, but it'll also be filled with lots of faith and reassurance for the moonfam. They especially seem to favor Rayla heavily with the most important, hopeful ending in her arc with her family. To me, they wouldn't take that chance from her because it goes against everything the show stands for. I'm excited to see how they unpack and process all the Moonfam's trauma. Let's Go S5.

I think this is a healthy natural progression, especially considering kids who are literally growing up with this show. When S5 comes out it'll have been ~5 years since TDP's first season dropped. That's a big chunk of a young person's life. Heck, it's a big chunk of mine.

And with time comes perspective. We can all look back on early periods of our own lives and understand them with extra context now. Why someone did something, or why no one did anything. TDP manages to achieve an extra layer of this with its condensed flashbacks, adding in extra time even in 9 short episodes per season, offering the benefit of the passage of time and its effects on the involved characters.

We might get to the point where a flashback references a time frame that's occurred since the show began, revealing something that was previously skipped. Or we might get older flashbacks that shed more light on what we've been given in TDP's early seasons, making them cast longer shadows, maybe in different directions.

I know it's landing differently to watch S1 now that we've all seen how happy the castle denizens are under two years of Ezran's rule. Runaan and his assassins disrupted the entire castle ecosystem, if you will, by killing the man who oversaw it. Somewhere along the chain - or binding ribbon - someone decided that all that fear and misery and disruption was worth taking Harrow out. Looking at you, Zubeia. (and I'm always looking at Runaan, he knows what he did)

I think the show intends to give everyone at least one chance to choose peace, in some way. The trick is whether the characters will take it!

[holysweetcherryorchardtree]

Was about to make a rant post about Karim when I realized

He represent the modern day return to conservativism and fundamental religion. Hear me out, okay?

Things are changing around him. He doesn't like. He feels it's changing too fast, maybe feels like he is going to lose the power and privilege he has. Wishes for the good old days, the traditional days.

Even though, in reality, a lot of the values and traditions Karim is espousing are actually BEFORE his time, he has this "We need to go back to the way things were because it was better." Where have we heard this before?

And then he uses people fear about change against them. He fear mongers, claiming Janai is essentially going to give all of their power and privileges away to the newcomers, the humans. Karim turns his personal desire to "regain" his lost power into a political movement that people get behind.

I still fucking hate him.

[breadsandwiches]

This is all I have to say. Thank you good bye

[starscay]

Viren's Twin Peaks Nightmare

[raayllum]

5x01 / 5x08

[m4rs-ex3]

happy late pride month to this information

[amber-in-the-rough]

been rewatching tdp seasons 4 to 5, I'm currently at s4 ep2 and there are 2 things I figured I should put down for myself:

just so you know, in any media the first thing I pay attention to is music. Like, half the reason I enjoy Star Rail is because of music. The same thing goes for the Dragon Prince. When I rewatch s1 to 3, every time I'm almost melting because of how beautiful the melodies are. They are generally both sad (the Last Sunset my beloved) and full of hope (the main theme), but they can also be ominous and insidious (hi Aaravos' theme) and also loving and tender (Because She's Rayla). But when I first watched s4 and then s5, I didn't notice music at all. Like, at most I made a mental note about two (2) melodies in s4 ep1. The rest went unnoticed :/ Which admittedly is uncharacteristic of tdp. But... Now that I'm watching s4 again, I'm so relieved to finally hear the beautiful music I had been expecting from tdp. It's there and it's been there this whole time. It's really the Mystery of Aara- Music haha.

what caused me to make this post is s4 ep2. A couple of minutes before Rayla's return we see Callum is done with the translation of the runes and he now has the full text of the riddle. "In Darkness, gaze upon the Fallen Star". Then we hear Aaravos' theme start playing (woahhh), the Star rune on the cube lights up and Callum walks around with the book. It's honestly terrifying to think that- it would have taken him only a tiny bit of time to figure out the meaning behind the riddle text (that he needs to put out all the light). And if he gave it a shot (which he would) and put out the candle and pulled the curtains (the moonlight was there), he would have met Aaravos. *curtain call* Oh god. And then the story would have gone an entirely different route. That is, if Rayla came just a tiny bit too late (god, I need a fic based on this au). But she comes just at the right time to mess things up and save Callum from the dangerous path and it's then that we hear Rayla's theme start playing (Silvergrove OST / Because She's Rayla). I love how the two melodies are interwoven. The ominous Aaravos' melody slowly gives way to the hopeful Rayla's tune. Perilous darkness gives way to the bright moonlight. And that is just so freaking beautiful.

P.S. I sometimes see in the fandom the thing about Callum having two paths before him. The one is Rayla (moonlight & love) and the other is Aaravos (darkness & also love?.. we don't know his pre-story but I think it all comes down to the same thing. to love). So what I want to say is- the music confirms it.

[percabetn]

apparently someone at the panel asked how writing romantic rayllum affected the plot and they said that the characters “become separate from them, they aren’t 'destined' to be together; they're not necessarily in love, but they love each other, they're friends, there's a deep connection there”

…. okay sure that makes sense

[kikithefox231]

Girl help

[themistdragon]

Terry and Claudia trying to communicate with Viren in that one episode

[self-spaghettification]

What are These Symbols in TDP?

seen in context of Aaravos, on startouch elf/celestial elf clothing, etc.

And, what do they imply for deep magic, star magic, and S6?

Let's call them First Elf Glyphs...

Short story: 1. They’re on Aaravos, TMO, startouch concept art, and celestial elves garments. 2. They’re tied to the deep magic symbol. Them being on startouch and celestial elves garments signifies the celestial elves were taught deep magic, or know the ties between star and deep magic in some way, Aaravos may have taught deep magic to the celestial elves or the humans due to the symbols place on the page. 3. they might be emblazoned spells because moonshadow swirlies were also used as spells (Runaan’s dance to activate his engravings, the ancient dance at the old moon nexus to open the gate between life and death) & 4. Startouch elves=First Elves + They remind me of the First One’s runes from She ra (which form words hence, glyphs.) If nothing else, this is a compilation of where they’re found.

Long story: First, why they’re relevant:

They're in Callum's sketchbook, a page we also briefly see on screen in a book regarding Aaravos.

This page in particular seems significant because it also connects to the eclipse imagery, and the half eaten/crescent moon which I believe both dictate important events but that's a theory for another day.

But by proxy, these symbols pique my interest. I feel like they're significant somehow,

a. we know swirlies carved into materials ie Runaan’s horn cuffs and dances on the ground can have significance as spells

b. we see them on Startouch garments:

-> Aaravos's cloak.

(which, as @kradogsrats pointed out, these shapes but the cloak especially imo looks like falling stars)

->Aaravos's tabard/skirt, front and back.

->Merciful One likely has similar aspects on their clothing, based on the similarities in their design to Aaravos.

->Aaravos's and Merciful one's tunics (example of above)

->the line arcing above the circle in the tunic is reminiscent of the signature celestial elf blindfold.

->And if we take a closer look, we see that Astrid is wearing similar garb to the startouch elves. So these lines can likely be considered first elf glyphs too.

We also see it on the concept art for Aaravos.

Every single version, save for the one on the far right, has some variation of these lines and circles (or at the very least, lines and diamonds for the earlier ones on the left).

This one doesn’t but it does have these constellations, which the symbols also seem to connect to.

->Lastly, Aaravos's hood...

It's tied, of course, to the deep magic symbol--that strange uneven sun shape we've seen several places so far.

Speculation Time

So, these glyphs seem to be tied to deep magic and the startouch elves in general. I'll get back to that in a second.

But first, (and I understand this is a more superficial connection) it's interesting because they reminded me of She Ra’s “First Ones” language and imagery too:

I find this especially relevant since Startouch elves also seem to be called the First Elves and this is confirmed by what Rayla says in S5: “In ancient legends, Startouch elves are sometimes called the First Elves.”

+ The First Elves had to have differentiated into the rest of the elves, and as it’s suggested and @random-fandom-ramble pointed out, “old magic” / deep magic is the root for primal magic. + as Aaravos may have mastered deep magic to master all 6 sources, Startouch elves are more likely to have mastery of deep magic / it seems like if you understand star magic, it’s easier to understand deep magic. So deep magic and star magic are inextricably connected, as are these related glyphs.

Hence, First Elf glyphs.

But why are they on the celestial elves' garb, what does that tell us?

While the celestial elves are said to be an "ancient" group of Skywing elves, it's unlikely they're as old as the First Elves themselves, so it's possible that Aaravos or another Startouch elf had a connection to them, passing down his knowledge. Plus, we're supposed to get a speech in S6 about Deep magic too. Could it be a flashback to him teaching these elves about deep magic?

Or, maybe some other Startouch elf founded it to begin with, to protect their knowledge when they left Xadia, leaving only "the last of the Great Ones," aka Aaravos. Maybe Aaravos and the Merciful One worked on it together.

But also, they specifically surround the image of the darkened star. Not a normal star. A fallen star--Aaravos. And it's next to the poem about Elarion. Could it be suggesting that Aaravos was the one to teach humanity these things about dark magic? Again- speech.

Perhaps. But there are other things to speculate on too, like

Do these glyphs serve a purpose? Why are they on these clothes?

A. emblazoned spells-> Maybe it's like the swirlies Ethari engraves into metal, such as Runaan's armor, as @beautifulterriblequeen said in their theory. Passive spell of protection, magic boost or some activatable spell in general? A spell of protection or durability seems more plausible as the part of the tunic underneath isn't frayed whereas the translucent part on top is (unless that's just for silly character design reasons) ....no! No silly character design reasons.... They write the show for us detail oriented people

-> strengthens their connection with deep magic/star magic

Alternatively, it:

B. signifies status in some way

->some lines and shapes may indicate higher/lower status

C. allows Startouch elves to connect with each other in some way

->like the headcanon I’ve heard of stars on skin glittering in a sort of morse code for startouch elves to communicate since space is a vacuum!

Anyways. Even if the Dragon Prince doesn't yet seem to have coherent constructed languages... I’m still hoping there’s going to be explanations later in-show or some way of deciphering these or finding a pattern in them.

The similarity to First Ones writing especially makes me think this will possibly have more significance than other glyphs. Perhaps we'll even find out their true meaning or even exact translation.

But... if nothing else, they're still used to draw these connections, between startouch and celestial, between star and deep, etc, that may be elaborated on more explicitly in the show. Hopefully we find out soon!

[pheonixrainbow15]

Sorry for being a little basic with this interpretation but, I'm 75% sure that it's just innocence. like, for some form of irony because behind it is a dark mage's lair that has imprisoned at least two beings, and held the remains of assorted animals. The picture is of a kid with some sheep. The painting is a visual way of saying, "There's nothing to see here!"

That's the post. :)

[breadsandwiches]

You know that custody battle is going to be rough

[herwrittenuniverse]

Raise your hand if you didn't realize this glowing orb from the Fallen Star artwork (i.e, the pearl) was literally Aaravos' prison

Come on, now. Don't be shy.

Oh, just me? ...Okay then.

I'm just so angry at myself because it was right there.

This is like Hey Arnold's last name all over again.

[raayllum]

I know who you are. Esmeray. / That's not my name. My name is Elmer.

6x05 / 5x08

[bisexualenbyblueberry]

as promised by my skittles-inhaling birthday past self!

AND YES, Astrid has had literally zero minutes of screen time, but she seems cool (I really hope she doesn’t end up being like. An asshole lol because I’ve been praising her since I first saw her)