#tdp s6 predictions

[themistdragon]

If time is stopped in the coins (which it probably is), that implies Runaan is coming out starving and dehydrated, with broken ribs, bruising, and an arm binding that will RAPIDLY tighten as it makes up for lost time, likely amputating the limb seconds after being freed.

Basically, Runaan as soon as he gets decoined:

[its-leethee]

What kind of magic does the Jailer use, and what is her connection to the Key of Aaravos?

I have thought for a while that perhaps the Jailer is neither a primal nor a dark magic user, and that she utilized the Key of Aaravos to serve an important role in his imprisonment. Now, there isn't a lot of overt evidence for my hypothesis here; this is a ramble of pure speculation. I'm going to do my best to present the dialogue and canon-consistent logic to support my thoughts. Here goes:

The prevailing opinion in Xadia is that "human magic" is akin to trickery and sleight of hand. When confronted with Callum's claim of being a primal mage in 5x07, Nyx dismisses his boast reflexively: “I’ve seen ‘human magic.’ Fake ropes, false doors, birds and rabbits stuffed into clothing.” To her, it's common knowledge that humans can't use real primal magic, and her derisive attitude shows she doesn't have much respect for human magic either. As for dark magic, Nyx doesn't even mention it at all; as Lujanne said in 2x01, "we do not call that practice magic. It's an atrocity."

But human magic has one more specialty: creating and solving puzzles. The mechanical devices and riddles guarding the secrets in Kpp'ar's labyrinthine house and the rock-stone puzzle hiding the staircase to Viren's dungeon are story-significant examples of the types of innovations created by human magic. In 1x03, Ezran solves the rock-stone puzzle to reveal the staircase hiding Viren's dungeon. Callum answers the riddle posed by Rex Igneous in 4x08, "having knowledge isn't knowing knowledge…. He has a map!"

So neither a primal mage nor a dark mage would resort to puzzles and riddles, the gimmicks used by magic-less humans. So let's now consider the Jailer.

During the post-season four Discord Q&A, Aaron Ehasz states that the Jailer is a "mastermind of prisons and puzzles."

In episode 5x05, Archmage Akiyu tells the story of how she met the Jailer and introduces her as "a human mage." Akiyu goes on to explain:

"The archdragons had given the Jailer a daunting task, to design a magical prison that could hold a Startouch Elf. She needed my powers to craft the prison itself." (emphasis mine).

It stands to reason that a competent dark mage, with the notoreity to catch the attention of the archdragons, could bring that kind of power into her grasp on her own. So why would the Jailer seek out the powers of primal archmage, unless she couldn't wield that power herself? Furthermore, knowing the prejudice that the archdragons hold against dark magic--all of humanity was driven out of Xadia for refusing to forswear its use--I don't believe the archdragons would ever condone cooperating with a dark mage, even to quell an existential crisis like a demi-god bent on world destruction.

Akiyu tells us one more intriguing thing that the Jailer said:

"'The puzzle is the real prison,' she told me with a proud smile," (again, emphasis mine)

There's another word besides "magic" that we can use to describe the practice of creating and solving puzzles: cryptography; the art and science of creating and breaking codes and ciphers. The terms code and cipher are often used interchangeably, but their meanings are technically different. Basically, a code uses arbitrary substitutions while a cipher uses an algorithm.

Now, if you wish to solve a puzzle, you're going to need all the pieces - and if you wish to solve a cipher or code, you're going to need a key.

More than one use has been hinted at for the Key of Aaravos. We've heard Rayla refer to it several times as a toy and a game piece (1x04, 2x07). In the book two novelization, Callum notices that the Key left marks on the ground that appeared to point toward Xadia (we get a glimpse of those lines in early episode 2x07). In 4x07, we get suspiciously up-close framing of the Key when Callum asks, "is there no primal gem for star magic?"

And a few months back, one of the TDP creators shared on Twitter about a season 6 scene that was eventually cut. In the scene, Callum holds the Key up to a symbol on a wall and says, "I'm gleaming the cube!" (if anyone remembers this twitter convo and can provide me a link to this, I would be so grateful)

This is the Key feature we're all most familiar with: its glow. When exposed to a source of magic, the corresponding primal magic symbol on the Key lights up. This is why I think one of the potential functions of the Key of Aaravos is as a cryptographic key. If it were held up to a magic-infused symbol, the glow effect would reveal the primal magic source - and in this way it could be used to decode a secret message.

In cryptography, a key is the series of words, symbols or phrases that contain all of the basic information you need to decode or understand a specific coded message. Both the sender and receiver of the coded message need to know the key in order to create the coded message or decode it into plaintext - to lock or unlock the meaning behind a cipher or code.

I can't speculate on the exact nature of the secrets that she encrypted with it, but the Key can literally shed light on the solution! It was a toy that was repurposed by a the Jailer, magicless human mage and mastermind of ciphers and codes, to protect the secrets of Aaravos and his prison.

Exactly what secrets it will be used to reveal remains part of the Mystery.

if you're interested in learning more about cryptography, this page has links to a lot of my favorite resources

Recommended reading for more Key of Aaravos and the Jailer theories:

the post that initially enabled my crazy train of thoughts, thank you @beautifulterriblequeen

super rad analysis of the Jailer's unique character design by @kradogsrats, who also authored one of my favorite alternative hypothesis for the real function of the Key of Aaravos

an amazing thorough and detailed Key analysis, by @raayllum and another very interesting conversation about the Key here

Special thanks to @raayllum for answering my random Akiyu and Jailer questions, and to @self-spaghettification for giving me the push I needed to bring this essay together!

[self-spaghettification]

as promised, here is my version of the tdp speculation bingo!

some of these predictions/theories are mine, some i’ve adopted from others, ie, @xadian-daydreams @its-leethee @clown-fession @raayllum @parroset :>

honorable mention to

-viren relapse with dark magic/aaravos

-aaravos & ezran interaction

blank template below the cut

+ link to original post/creator

+ link to my meta masterlist for insight i guess

[raayllum]

Do anything

[sentimentallyannoying]

can’t wait to see Soren go on a mission to rescue Corvus next season and then realize along the way he wants to be more than bros

[raylasrightbraid]

guys ive come to the conclusion that rayla NEEDS a girl bsf her age

im hoping that in season 6 my girl Astrid can clutch up BC RAYLA NEEDS GIRL TIME LIKE NOWWW

[tategaminu]

I honestly think it could be pretty funny that just as Rayla was trying to talk to Callum in S4 with him refusing‚ season 6 is just the other way around and it will be just Rayla trying to avoid the conversation at all costs

[lunanightriderofthecove]

Watching 6x05 and hearing Viren say that Soren has a true heart has me convinced that 7x02, True Heart, is not only a Terry episode, as Aaron said, but also a Soren episode 🥰

I would've waited to post this until my next rewatch commentary watchthrough, but it's the evening before s7, so I wanted to share this theory before the season is out.

[fwitolei]

Tell me why i’m looking through my old school stuff and i find this drawing in my planner from SEPTEMBER 2023 and i’m LITERALLY shitting myself because look

Someone kill me now—

[otter-and-terrier]

tdp season 7 theory

okay so i have a theory – i think that:

callum is going to be forced to use dark magic.

this leads to his soul being fully corrupted.

as a result of this, aaravos can now possess him again.

rayla, after a LOT of internal struggle, is forced to kill him.

they manage to save his soul, e.g. trap it in a coin or some sort of prison.

after somehow defeating aaravos (maybe trapping him in a coin? idk), they journey to the moon nexus.

using the last quasar diamond (because they only used one – to bring back runaan), they untrap callum’s soul and bring him back.

there are a few problems with this theory; for example, if callum’s soul becomes fully corrupted, that could cause complications with the quasar diamond ritual thingy. the other problem is that because callum’s soul is fully corrupted or whatever, they’d be releasing a fully corrupted soul and not callum’s normal cinnamon-roll soul. maybe they’ll do the star-truth ritual to fix this, idk.

of course, this is just my wild speculations – but if it happens, you saw it here first.

[bycaprinae]

I was watching Reel james interview with Aaron and there he pointed out that in the scene where we learn about Aaravos' prision, there's actually a giant corpse burried there. It was a hidden element and apparently important to the story, enough to be connected to Aditi being "swalloed" but not in the way we might think! I feel like we might know who that corpse belonged to, so I'd like to connect the dots and present to you all my theory.

Being straight foward, who do i think that corpse belongs to? Leola. Why? And why that matters? I'll present my case:

I think that the Startouches are Gods that created the world of Xadia, both human, dragons and elves. Aaravos and Leola were close to one another (as friends, family or lovers?), but Leola was the first one out of the two to pity the humans. Leola cared for humanity and Aaravos cared about Leola. Leola then decides to help the humans, maybe she tried to act under the radar and disguised herself as a unicorn, so the others Startouches wouldn't find out about this, as the humans were MEANT to be weak and suffer.

But soon after, they find out that Leola gave humanity magic, and decided to punish her for it, leading to her death? And because Aaravos was close to her, but not the one that defied their plans, he was spared by the others, but casted out to the world of Xadia, unable to go back to his people, and stripped away from his original status and power. Filled with bitterness, he plotted his revenge, to undo and destroy all of the other Startouches creation from inside out, by the hands of humanity, the ones that Leola pitied, the ones that the others despised, and in the process he got closer to humanity, learned their culture, their ways of doing things, he learned the love that Leola held for those creatures. She was prometheus and he was Lucifer!

If it wasn't obvious, I think the Startouch can shapeshift, I think they're actually massive beings, and both the skelleton and the statues are actually their original sizes!

Some of it is just pure headcanons because I don't have strong evidences, but here is what I do have:

Recently we learned from Aaron that the Startouch elf we see in the opening is actually named Leola!

It came as a surprise because Leola was also described as a unicorn, but not just any unicorn, the very one that gifted humans with primal magic. This is information comes from Tales of Xadia Handbook:

And when I read that tweet from Aaron, I immediately went to check that info on Leola, because I never actually read the handbook, and I was puzzled when I found a screenshot of that text and also the information on the wiki about unicorns, because in both wiki and the handbook is only written that "the elves" warned the unicorns, but WHICH elves? I distincly had the memory of it being the FIRST elves (aka, Startouch Elves), and then today I remembered where that info came from!! Is from book one: moon prologue!

Previously I theorized that "Ripples" is not a story about how humans came to wield Dark magic, but actually a story BEFORE they even learn that. The reason for that is the choice of words used to describe the magic.

"Precious primal flames" "undeserved power", such words used to describe what they had and what was destroyed. And then there's the implication that Aaravos' plan was to have the destruction of the Startouch empire come from the hands of the very humans they once despised so much.

The next logical thing to get from Ripples was that it described the birth of the Sea of the castout, caused by none other than Aaravos falling from the sky! The short story describes a small star falling down, changing the world, birthing a new sea.

It HAD to be Aaravos right? He's a fallen star! But he wasn't the one that gifted humanity with primal magic, through primal stones. He was the one that gave them the Dark magic. Back then I thought that maybe he was the one to do it, but if Leola and Aaravos are connected, then ripples might be about Leola's passing/falling.

Cookiesaddict made a post pointing out the possible connections of Aaravos and Leola, you should read it, but to summarize the points. Once in the NYCC this question was made:

Cookie suggested that this person might be Leola. During the S5 watch party I asked Devon if the Statues in the Sea of the cast out were made before or after Aaravos was impriosioned, because people were wondering why the hell would the prision have that GIGANT STATUE almost screaming: HEY, AARAVOS IS HERE!! COME GET HIM!! and this was the response!

Now, we see that statue both in the show and as a sketch, the other elf is known as "The merciful One" as disclosed by Aaron on twitter. BUT HMMMM THAT SKETCH.... LOWKEY REMINDS ME OF... THIS SKETCH....

The one from Ripples!!

Personally I think in S6 Aaravos will tell Viren about Leola, and maybe through that story we'll find out why the hell did Aaravos insisted on having Viren to live until the end, and how their themes/motives are actually more similar than we thought it was. It's not about power, but about what they'll do to save/avenge their loved ones, their family. I also read a theory that the sparklepuff sacrifice was a test on Aaravos part, while I do think that with the theory of mine it might make sense, I also fail to see why would he go to such an extent to test Viren? Maybe Aaravos realizing that Viren is much more of a family driven man than he already knew he was (as he mentioned he wouldn't expect him to sacrifice Claudia or Soren) will be the thing to trigger their interactions where Aaravos tells him about Leola. As things stands now, Viren is the only logical character to be the narrative tool in which Aaravos shares his side of the story. They're the one that have the most intimacy for him to be "vulnerable", and perhaps their final departure will come from Viren trying to talk Aaravos out of his path of revenge, to share the realizations he had with his nightmares, ohhh my god, can you imagine, Aaravos finally is vulnerable, finally shares about Leola, shares his grief, to the one he thought might understand, because they're similar, but Viren is too far into his search for personal redemption, and belittlethe bitterness Aaravos held in for so long. Super ultra gay divorce is coming (in my delusions).

[themistdragon]

*If the Dragang head back to Katolis post-s5*

Opeli: King Ezran, what on earth is that glowing orb thing??

Ezran: Oh, it's nothing, just the prison of the most dangerous, evil being in the history of Xadia

Opeli:

[reminiscentrainclouds]

The Dragon Prince season 6 spoilers below! Just a bunch of my thoughts because boy do I have a lot of them!

I still can't believe the way that whole switcheroo trick with the pearl backfired on Callum. It was so painful to watch because I knewwww it was going to happen the minute he decided to carry the fake down there by himself. Rayla was literally offering to go down there with him!! It would have been so easy for both of them to go down there just in case! I mean, the fake and the pearl both looked exactly the same; it would be easy to make a simple mistake and confuse them, so you'd want to make extra sure you were taking the right one with you!! Callum's confidence is very admirable, but considering he was so worried about it, he really should have been more cautious!

I just really like the way that part of the plot played out. This whole season had soooo much irony in it, but especially with this whole thing. The second it was revealed to be the fake pearl, I was like, "Yippee I was right!!" But also, "They're doomed." Because!! It's left completely unattended!!

And then Sol Regem started attacking Katolis and I was like NOOO IT'S ALL COMING TOGETHER. Although at first I was thinking it was gonna get like, smashed or something in the rubble and that would release Aaravos but man. MAN. There was so much more in store, that was a wild ride... Don't even get me started on Viren's sacrifice. I hate him and I think he got what he deserved, both in terms of what he lost and the crushing guilt he felt, but man. I was really sympathizing with him ever since he got revived, and that last scene with him hurt.

But it was a satisfying and fitting conclusion for him. He had intended on swearing off dark magic and attempting to right his wrongs, but instead, after a lifetime of sacrificing other lives for magic, he ends things by sacrificing his own life, which was already stolen after being revived anyway, to help save the people of Katolis. Sucks that he ultimately was convinced to use dark magic again, as if it was something he could never really escape, as if he never really learned anything, but the big difference was that he was sacrificing no other life than his own here. And he did help people. I'm probably massively misinterpreting everything because my interpretations are always kind of off...but he's just a really interesting character.... He made a lot of bad decisions but I understand his motivations, and I feel like he was really quite Doomed By The Narrative, pushed into a corner and faced with two equally bad decisions in many cases. He's the kind of bad guy who I really wish could have had the opportunity of not being a bad guy, y'know?

Aaravos is much worse and much less redeemable to me, but I feel a similar way about him. Like I Get It. Can't relate to what appears to be his thirst for revenge but I can understand. Learning about what happened to his daughter makes me angry on his behalf! The fact that all this had to happen in the first place hurts a lot! All this could really be blamed on that council of Startouch Elves, for what seemed like an extremely unnecessary punishment for his daughter. Although I'm curious about what more information we might get on the whole cosmic order and everything, I don't know. Taking Aaravos's child like that was unnecessarily cruel though; regardless of how serious of a crime or whatever giving humans magic was, there's no way she had bad intentions, and it's not like killing her would reverse what happened. AUGH anyway. What a season.

[orchid-merryweather]

Thinking about how both times Callum uses dark magic, he then connects to a primal source

First, in order to save a dragon, a creature of the sky, he turns chains into snakes, he then connects to the sky acanum

Then, while in a boat on the ocean (hear me out here folks), he uses dark magic, again turning chains into snakes to free himself, he then connects to the ocean arcanum

Makes me think about why/how humans have dark magic in the first place

Because I'd always thought that we were supposed to assume that Aaravos was the one that taught humans dark magic, in order to corrupt and control them, but I'm realizing that it's far more likely that someone else did

When Vieren, Claudia, and that one guy in the flashback with Sol Reagem use dark magic, they aren't doing it with good in their hearts and to achieve a net positive outcome. Vieren killed the king of the dragons. Claudia acted so violently towards that one dragon that it was 𝙩𝙚𝙧𝙧𝙞𝙛𝙞𝙚𝙙 of her. That one guy was defending a city full of innocent people that was clearly not his first use of dark magic and his soul was already corrupted.

They used dark magic in acts of evil and their souls became corrupted because of it.

Callum used dark magic as a last resort to save the lives of others. He used it in small amounts and with good intentions

I used to think that we were supposed to assume that Aaravos taught the humans dark magic. But, what if it was someone else? I still think it was a Startouch elf, I don't think that the power of dark magic could have originated elsewhere. I believe that some other Startouch elf gave the humans dark magic.

Dark magic, as was given to the humans, was not supposed to be used the way we see it used by Vieren and Claudia, but how we see Callum use it

I believe dark magic was given to the humans as a way of forming connections with the arcanums

Its purpose was supposed to be to help humans connect with magic, dark magic is a bridge between having and being without a primal source. The first use of dark magic and the following dark magic coma prepares the body for the use of magic which it is not used to

And when Callum has his dark magic coma, we see that a lot of his dream is sky/storm based alongside his rejecting of corruption

His rejecting of that corruption of his soul prepares him to use magic, and then all the weird sky/storm stuff is of course the building of his connection to the arcanum

I wish we could have seen Callum's pov when he used dark magic the second time. We know that dark mages only have the dark magic coma the first time they use dark magic, but we don't know how connecting to a second arcanum works. Did he have some weird dream first? Or did he suddenly understand the arcanum?

Of course, I could be overanalyzing this entirely, but I just don't think it's a coincidence that Callum's understanding of an arcanum and use of dark magic are never far apart.

Now for my prediction

Callum is going to understand the star arcanum. To do that, he first needs another instance of using dark magic

It's going to happen at the starscraper. It's going to be revealed that the Celestial Elves (an ancient sect of skywing elves for those of you who don't remember) are supporters of Aaravos. After finding out that Rayla and Callum are against Aaravos, and that they know where he is, the Celestial Elves lock them away, wanting to free him. Here Callum uses dark magic to get him and Rayla out, and being at this place that is clearly connected to star magic, he forms a connection to the star arcanum. We will also get to see what happens when a human connects to a primal source that isn't their first because we didn't get to see that in s5 with ocean magic

[raayllum]

like the main reason i always thought viren would have a sacrificial death is because his 'original sin' so to speak is that he was so quick to sacrifice other people's (servants) lives and hesitant over sacrificing his own. we came full circle. it was nice

[self-spaghettification]

predictions acheived