#the dragon prince thoughts season 4

[meganwasbored]

The Dragon Prince Season 4 Episode 9

-the title already scares me

-that hurt

-viren treating the aaravos creature thing like a toddler

-karim is a mage??? how did i miss this???

-“and then my stinky toes did the trick!”

-“you can live out your life in peace with your bride” the bride you didn’t even want her to marry??

-GET HIM GET HIM GET HIM

-what are y’all doing wake up everyone else why are you just standing there

-still baffles me that y’all thought this season wasn’t funny how could you not love this

-CALLUM SHIELDING EZRAN FROM THE ROCKS WITH HIS BODY MY HEART

-viren you are absolutely useless what are you even doing here

-what is this dude even mad about that knife wouldn’t have felt any worse than a little pin prick to you calm down

-HER HAND OVER HER HEART

-YES MAAM

-“it’s not over! you have to finish me!” says who y’all literally made this whole thing up

-he really thought having one person on his side was gonna change everyone’s minds my dude you are delusional

-IT IS TAKING EVERYTHING IN ME NOT TO TURN ON CLAUDIA RIGHT NOW

-TERRY YOU ARE OUR LAST HOPE TALK SOME SENSE INTO HER

-“at times like these, the only strength that matters in the strength in your heart” soren says some of the wisest things sometimes

-zubeia coming in clutch yet again

-this really is the ladies episode

-just this

-wait i totally forgot about the map how are they gonna get the map

-CRYING

-the way it took her almost dying for him to finally hug her again

-in conclusion despite how painful it was i loved this season and i think y’all just had unattainable expectations after such a long wait which is understandable but you’re still wrong

[akiraarabella]

CAN WE ALSO PLEASE TALK ABOUT THIS SCENE?!?!?!

IT WAS NOT A KISS SCENE BUT IT WAS AS POWERFUL AS ONE!!!

Their THE KISS scene on season 3 episode 5 (yes i remember exactly dont ask why) it was REALLY powerful because it literally showed us the development between the two characters from them trying to kill one another (mostly Rayla) to saving each other and Callum expressing it such a beautiful way by his speech with "Because she's Rayla" Playing in the background was just TO DIE FOR!!!! it was emotional, romantic, strong! It was everything! It wasnt forced it was just there in the perfect time. I can never stop praising the shows writers enough istg. Even rn im listening to that ost in the background.

I cant lie bc it was adorable seeing these two being all lovey dovey with each other by kissing and hugging etc. But when season 4 begins, their relationship is just not there anymore. Yes there are bits and pieces but they're scattered everywhere. Callum reminiscing about her and their time together gives us half of the answer. Something happened that pulled them apart but what is it?

When he was looking out in the balcony to the sky, their theme was also playing at the background but so soft and so weak that you felt Callums' pain. It was a sad track, it was a tragic track. Raylas' memories were still there but not herself. And it made him so sad that the dude said it was NOT his BIRTHDAY but the ANNIVERSARY OF RAYLAS' LEAVING!!!! THIS BOY CARES ABOUT RAYLA MORE THAN HE CARES ABOUT HIMSELF!!!

From then on the relationship starts to have a second build up. Its like strangers to friends to lovers to strangers to ??? . The only difference of this build up compared to first three seasons is that there is already an established relationship, its just broken. So in a way they start again. Going on adventures, being there for each other in case either of them needs help. Callum doesnt let his feelings for her suppress his hurt which was also caused by her but little by little it starts to heal. It starts to fix.

Here we see Rayla admit to her mistake of going after revenge and leaving the most important thing she has behind (aka Callum obv) . Her admitting this out loud is so great to hear. Because she know she made a mistake and that mistake hurt Callum and she intends to FIX that mistake. She gives him the space he needs while also staying close enough in case he would need her. Just like Soren said "sometimes you need time to work through the weird, and then it'll work out or dont. The heart do what it do or dont what it dont"

And thats exactly what happens! With time the awkwardness becomes less and less and their hearts do the job. Their feelings for each other were never gone in the first place, and when they both finally realise that it just keeps getting better. In the form of saving friends (Zym and Soren) they remember how it felt working together which helps them get closer.

But even tho they act close their words are still apart. They dont admit it. They dont talk about it. They just go along with it. But then Rayla gets caught sneaking Runaans' bow. When Callum orders them to release her even without knowing the reason why, Rayla picks up what he's putting down. He trusts her, he doesnt push her to explain him anything because he knows that she will when she is ready. She sees that there is still a chance to make things just like before maybe even better.

(Also in this scene when they're going to the grand bookery and they cross this path, she says "its an old wound that's healing" I cant help but feel like its a parallel to their relationship. The wound of leaving for two years but now finally working through it. Its just perfect)

So yep after everything she admits it, which is also perfect because she was the one that made a mistake so she does fix it and she does it right.

"Im glad we could be here together, looking at the stars..." She says.

And Callum feeling the same way rests his head on hers. ITS JUST PERFECT AAAAAAAAAAAAA!!!!!! THE WAY THAT THEY STILL KEEP TALKING ABOUT STARS AND THIS WHOLE SCENE HAVING AS MUCH POWER AS THEIR KISS SCENE AND DARE I SAY EVEN MORE (i dont know which wins bc i was jumping around screaming when they kissed after Callums' poetic speech LOL it was ROMANTIC ALRIGHT?! 😭😭😭😭 SAME GOES FOR THIS ONE)

And the thing is that it'ss so easy to mess up. They could've gone for a route like "hey im back after two years of absence" "Oh hi its great to see you again" And its not just the characters and their relationships but also the world that you're telling to the audience. It is so easy to get it wrong ESPECIALLY if you are writing Fantasy. With so many kingdoms, dragons, elves and other species with also magic its very very simple to mess up. Im glad that they went this way with the story telling. Its more natural, more enjoyable and it just works perfectly.

ANYWAY IVE BEEN WRITING THIS FOR WAY TOO LONG BUT IF YOU MANAGED TO FINISH READING IT TILL THE END OMG YOU'RE A FUCKING ROCKSTAR IDK I LOVE YOU THANK YOU!!! 😫😫😫💕💕💕💕

[terrac0tta-m0mmy]

Everyone meet my new (old) favorite blonde man Soren Dragon Prince (I want him to be covered in blood please and thank you)

[schrodingers-hoarding-problem]

what is wrong with me that has made me so intrigued by aaravos like i should not be kicking my feet and twirling my hair every time hes on screen

[echo-of-the-eye]

I really wanna get back into the dragon prince fandom. I kinda fell off after s4. Now I don’t hate s4-6 (in fact I actually really like 6!) but I do have problems with them. Mostly s4. (Heads up there will be some criticism of s4-6 so if that upsets you feel free to not read. I haven’t kept up with the fandom but I know opinions on s4 were really split when it came out. And unfortunately I didn’t like it very much. If you did like it, good for you! That’s great! I honestly wish I could say the same)

This ended up getting really long so I’ll put it under the cut.

I think my expectations were too high. I’d waited years for s4 and the trailer looked so good and I trusted the creators so when it came out I was really disappointed. I was already having a really bad day and was emotionally drained so when I watched it and it didn’t meet my expectations I genuinely cried from disappointment. Now that was an overreaction (and I really should have waited till I felt better) and on rewatch it isn’t THAT bad, but it’s still not nearly as good as arc 1 (which I love with my whole heart).

Most of my problems are with how rayllum was handeled. I know some people liked it cause they felt it was realistic and I kinda get it. I’ve heard arguments about how it makes sense cause even though Callum is mad, he still cares about Rayla and therefore doesn’t want to hurt her, so he gives her the cold shoulder so he doesn’t end up saying something hurtful. But I disagree. Even if it is realistic, it’s not DRAMATIC and that’s more important to me. I just wish they could have had ONE big fight where Callum gets to be a bit pissed. I also wish they explained where the fuck Rayla has been and why she happened to come back just in time for the plot. She said she missed him but what made her return at that specific moment after being gone for two years? (Also curious what people who haven’t read through the moon thought. Cause they barely even explain why she was gone). After ttm I was so ready for angst, it was such a good setup and then it felt like they didn’t deliver. Especially after the creators kept promising it would get darker and more mature (and then s4 ended up being the most childish season. Seriously, what was up with those jokes they weren’t even funny)

There are things love about s4 though. The fight between Claudia and Ibis with Ezran’s speech and Aaravos possessing Callum was amazing! But the rest kind a fell flat for me.

I like 5 and 6 a LOT better but they still suffer from some of the issues from s4. If s4 was done better I’m pretty sure I wouldn’t have that many problems with 5 and 6 either. I liked how rayllum got back together EXCEPT for how CALLUM was made to apologize to RAYLA!?? For how HE reacted when she came back? (An entirely reasonable reaction btw) When she never apologizes to him for leaving in the first place!

I feel like there are also some pacing issues. I’m not qualified to talk about what they did wrong or how they should have done it and I can’t quite put my finger on what’s wrong but it felt off compared to arc 1. I think it’s mostly that it wastes a lot of time on meaningless stuff that doesn’t do anything for the characters while the actual meaningful character development gets rushed and they barely linger on the emotional moments. In arc 1 it felt like every moment and line mattered. Like you couldn’t cut anything without taking away from the story cause everything added something important to the characters. But s4-6 there are many moments I could go without (and that I actively dislike), again mostly in s4). Each episode also felt way better structured in arc 1.

I know a lot of people love arc 2 and 3 and that’s good! I’m really glad you’re able to enjoy it and I’m honestly kinda jealous. I wish I could enjoy it as much as arc 1 cause this series meant so much to me! It still does and I still get exited over new seasons, but I haven’t been able to engage much with it cause my interest kinda faded when it didn’t live up to its potential. I’m looking forward to s7 and I hope it delivers cause I still love it after all. It’s one of my favorite shows of all time. I’m trying to get a bit back into it again, looking through the tag and stuff cause I want to engage with it more. Unfortunately I do not control the hyperfixation so we’ll see how it goes. Chances are it’ll come back once s7 drops (which is in one month holy shit!!!)

[bri-the-bi]

Why did everyone think Callum when Aaravos said Viren’s other child my first thought was Terry 😭

[ac0531]

Thinking about a possible end credit that shows rayllum with their children towards the end of the series.

Bonus cute thought: Aged up Zym gives the rayllum kids a ride just like Toothless did with Hiccstrid’s children in HTTYD 3

[herwrittenuniverse]

How the first meeting between Rayla and Stella went in my mind, lolllll

(PS - please reblog and not repost my crappy meme. TY! xoxo)

[svperluminous]

Watching S4E2. There's the scene where Ibis tries to feed Zym veggies and once Zubeia comes back, he whisks them away and lies about Zym having eaten everything. Pyrrah growls at them, for some reason, which makes me think that maybe she can tell he's lying?

[aetsiv]

Minor season 4 spoilers ahead

Someone should make an edit of Callum to Puppet Boy by DEVO and Aaravos would the puppet master guy

Like it's so fitting for him especially after his whole possession thing in season 4

[archivedbyebye]

Are we seriously already doing this???

The seasons only been out for a few hours and you're seriously already hating on it?

[meganwasbored]

The Dragon Prince Thoughts Season 4 Episode 8

-i know they told me but i can’t for the life of me remember this little elf boy’s name

-out of context this looks like a proposal

-how exactly is this relationship forbidden how many sketchy things are you up to dude

-“the war of blood and ash” sounds like a YA fantasy novel

-was that for a purpose or did he just cut his own hand for dramatics

-note to self: the earthblood elf boy’s name is N’than

-TELL ME RAYLA ISNT ACTUALLY GONNA LOSE HER BLADES THAT WOULD BE LIKE CALLUM LOSING HIS SKETCHBOOK

-EZRANS CROWN

-I NOTICED IT WAS A DIFFERENT COLOR BUT I NEVER THOUGHT ANYTHING OF IT

-OH SCREW YOU

-it literally just occurred to me that amaya and the sunfire elves don’t know about aaravos yet

-does this at least mean they get to keep their stuff

-LOL DOES EZRAN HAVE A JELLY TART PIN ON HIS BACKPACK

-after all that the thing that’s gonna save them is a brown sludge tart???????? i hate that i’m sorry

-how on earth does this guy not know that avizandum is dead go touch some grass maybe you wouldn’t be so bored all the time

-ezran is related to the human who exposed aaravos isn’t he

-everyone apparently

-you have GOT to be kidding me

-in all that time rayla could’ve ran to get her blades and all to way back also callum could’ve zapped her also rex igneous could’ve just annihilated her in one swipe also zym could’ve easily attacked her the only reason that worked was because nobody movmed you’ve practically handed her the map

[imminent-danger-came]

EPISODE 4?????

[cartoontees]

tbh we should have known something was going to happen when rayla and callum became canon in season 3 of a tv show that is confirmed to have 7 seasons

[visenyaism]

HOTD blog post GRRM posted and almost immediately deleted under the cut for archival purposes

Beware the Butterflies

SEPTEMBER 4, 2024

Profile Pic

Back in July, I promised you some further thoughts about Blood and Cheese… and Maelor the Missing… after my commentary on the first two episodes of HotD season 2, “A Son for a Son” and “Rhaenyra the Cruel.”

Those were terrific episodes: well written, well directed, powerfully acted. A great way to kick off the new season. Fans and critics alike seemed to agree. There was only one aspect of the episodes that drew significant criticism: the handling of Blood and Cheese, and the death of Prince Jaehaerys. From the commentary I saw on line, opinion was split there. The readers of FIRE & BLOOD found the sequence underwhelming, a disappointment, watered down from what they were expecting. Viewers who had not read the book had no such problems. Most of them found the sequence a real gut-punch, tragic, horrifying, nightmarish, etc. Some reported being reduced to tears.

I found myself agreeing with both sides.

In my book, Aegon and Helaena have three children, not two. The twins, Jaehaerys and Jaehaera, are six years old. They have a younger brother, Maelor, who is two. When Blood and Cheese break in on Helaena and the kids, they tell her they are debt collectors come to exact revenge for the death of Prince Lucerys: a son for a son. As Helaena has two sons, however, they demand that she choose which one should die. She resists and offers her own life instead, but the killers insist it has to be a son. If she does not name one, they will kill all three of the children. To save the life of the twins, Helaena names Maelor. But Blood kills the older boy, Jaehaerys, instead, while Cheese tells little Maelor that his mother wanted him dead. (Whether the boy is old enough to understand that is not at all certain).

That’s not how it happens on the show. There is no Maelor in HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, only the twins (both of whom look younger than six, but I am no sure judge of children’s ages, so I can’t be sure how old they are supposed to be). Blood can’t seem to tell the twins apart, so Helaena is asked to reveal which one is the boy. (You would think a glance up his PJs would reveal that, without involving the mother). Instead of offering her own life to save the kids, Helaena offers them a necklace. Blood and Cheese are not tempted. Blood saws Prince Jaehaerys’s head off. We are spared the sight of that; a sound effect suffices. (In the book, he lops the head off with a sword).

It is a bloody, brutal scene, no doubt. How not? An innocent child is being butchered in front of his mother.

I still believe the scene in the book is stronger. The readers have the right of that. The two killers are crueler in the book. I thought the actors who played the killers on the show were excellent… but the characters are crueler, harder, and more frightening in FIRE & BLOOD. In the show, Blood is a gold cloak. In the book, he is a former gold cloak, stripped of his office for beating a woman to death. Book Blood is the sort of man who might think making a woman choose which of her sons should die is amusing, especially when they double down on the wanton cruelty by murdering the boy she tries to save. Book Cheese is worse too; he does not kick a dog, true, but he does not have a dog, and he’s the one who tells Maelor that his mom wants him head. I would also suggest that Helaena shows more courage, more strength in the book, by offering her own own life to save her son. Offering a piece of jewelry is just not the same.

As I saw it, the “Sophie’s Choice” aspect was the strongest part of the sequence, the darkest, the most visceral. I hated to lose that. And judging from the comments on line, most of the fans seemed to agree.

When Ryan Condal first told me what he meant to do, ages ago (back in 2022, might be) I argued against it, for all these reasons. I did not argue long, or with much heat, however. The change weakened the sequence, I felt, but only a bit. And Ryan had what seemed to be practical reasons for it; they did not want to deal with casting another child, especially a two-year old toddler. Kids that young will inevitably slow down production, and there would be budget implications. Budget was already an issue on HOUSE OF THE DRAGON, it made sense to save money wherever we could. Moreover, Ryan assured me that we were not losing Prince Maelor, simply postponing him. Queen Helaena could still give birth to him in season three, presumably after getting with child late in season two. That made sense to me, so I withdrew my objections and acquiesced to the change.

I still love the episode, and the Blood and Cheese sequence overall. Losing the “Helaena’s Choice” beat did weaken the scene, but not to any great degree. Only the book readers would even notice its absence; viewers who had never read FIRE & BLOOD would still find the scenes heart-rending. Maelor did not actually DO anything in the scene, after all. How could he? He was only two years old.

There is another aspect to the removal of the young princeling, however.

Those of you who hate spoilers should STOP READING HERE. Spoilers will follow, at least for the readers among you. If you have never read FIRE & BLOOD, maybe it does not matter, because all I am going to “spoil” here are things that happen in the book that may NEVER happen on the series. Starting with Maelor himself.

Sometime between the initial decision to remove Maelor, a big change was made. The prince’s birth was no longer just going to be pushed back to season 3. He was never going to be born at all. The younger son of Aegon and Helaena would never appear.

Most of you know about the Butterfly Effect, I assume.

Yes, there was a movie with that title a few years back. It’s a familiar concept in chaos theory as well. But most science fiction fans were first exposed to the idea in Ray Bradbury’s classic time travel story, “A Sound of Thunder,” wherein a time traveler from the present panics and crushes a butterfly while hunting a T-Rex. When he returns to his own time, he discovers that the world has changed in huge and frightening ways. One dead butterfly has rewritten history. The lesson being that change begets change, and even small and seemingly insignificant alterations to a timeline — or a story — can have a profound effect on all that follows.

Maelor is a two year old toddler in FIRE & BLOOD, but like our butterfly he has an impact on the story all out of proportion to his size. The readers among you may recall that when it appears that Rhaenyra and her blacks are about to capture King’s Landing, Queen Alicent becomes concerned for the safety of Helaena’s remaining children, and takes steps to save them by smuggling them out of the city. The task is given is two knights of the Kingsguard. Ser Willis Fell is commanded to deliver Princess Jaehaera to the Baratheons at Storm’s End, while Maelor is given over to Ser Rickard Thorne to be escorted across the Mander to the protection of the Hightower army on its way to King’s Landing.

Willis Fell delivers Jaehaera safely to the Baratheons at Storm’s End, but Ser Rickard fares less well. He and Maelor get as far as Bitterbridge, where he is revealed as a Kingsuard in a tavern called the Hogs Head. Once discovered, Ser Rickard fights bravely to protect his young charge and bring him to safety, but he does not even make it across the bridge before some crossbows bring him down, Prince Maelor is torn from his arms.. and then, sadly, ripped to pieces by the mob fighting over the boy and the huge reward that Rhaenyra has offered for his capture and return.

Will any of that appear on the show? Maybe… but I don’t see how. The butterflies would seem to prohibit it. You could perhaps make Ser Rickard’s ward be Jaehaera instead of Maelor, but Jaehaera can’t be killed, she has a huge role to play as Aegon’s next heir. Could maybe make Maelor a newborn instead of a two year old, but that would scramble up the timeline, which is a bit of a mess already. I have no idea what Ryan has planned — if indeed he has planned anything — but given Maelor’s absence from episode 2, the simplest way to proceed would be just to drop him entirely, lose the bit where Alicent tries to send the kids to safety, drop Rickard Thorne or send him with Willis Fell so Jaehaera has two guards.

From what I know, that seems to be what Ryan is doing here. It’s simplest, yes, and may make sense in terms of budgets and shooting schedules. But simpler is not better. The Bitterbridge scene has tension, suspense, action, bloodshed, a bit of heroism and a lot of tragedy. Rickard Thorne is a tertiary character at best, most viewers (as opposed to readers) will never know he is gone, since they never knew him at all… but I rather liked giving him his brief moment of heroism, a taste of the courage and loyalty of the Kingsguard, regardless of whether they are black or green.

The butterflies are not done with us yet, however. In the book, when word of Prince Maelor’s death and the grisly manner of his passing (pp. 505) reaches the Red Keep, that proves to be the thing that drives Queen Helaena to suicide. She could barely stand to look at Maelor, knowing that she chose him to die in the “Sophie’s Choice” scene… and now he is dead in truth, her words having come true. The grief and guilt are too much for her to bear.

In Ryan’s outline for season 3, Helaena still kills herself… for no particular reason. There is no fresh horror, no triggering event to overwhelm the fragile young queen.

And the final butterfly follows soon thereafter.

Queen Helaena, a sweet and gentle soul, is much beloved by the smallfolk of King’s Landing. Rhaenyra was not, so when rumors began to arise that Helaena did not kill herself, but rather was murdered at Rhaenyra’s command, the commons are quick to believe them. “That night King’s Landing rose in bloody riot,” I wrote on p. 506 of FIRE & BLOOD. It is the beginning of the end for Rhaenyra’s rule over the city, ultimately leading to the Storming of the Dragonpit and the rise of the Shepherd’s mob that drives Rhaenyra to flee the city and return to Dragonstone… and her death.

Maelor by himself means little. He is a small child, does not have a line of dialogue, does nothing of consequence but die… but where and when and how, that does matter. Losing Maelor weakened the end of the Blood and Cheese sequence, but it also cost us the Bitterbridge scene with all its horror and heroism, it undercut the motivation for Helaena’s suicide, and that in turn sent thousands into the streets and alleys, screaming for justice for their “murdered” queen. None of that is essential, I suppose… but all of it does serve a purpose, it all helps to tie the story lines together, so one thing follows another in a logical and convincing manner.

What will we offer the fans instead, once we’ve killed these butterflies? I have no idea. I do not recall that Ryan and I ever discussed this, back when he first told me they were pushing back on Aegon’s second son. Maelor himself is not essential… but if losing him means we also lose Bitterbridge, Helaena’s suicide, and the riots, well… that’s a considerable loss.

And there are larger and more toxic butterflies to come, if HOUSE OF THE DRAGON goes ahead with some of the changes being contemplated for seasons 3 and 4…

GRRM

[jedineedlove]

The Nine-Headed Demon

Titles:

Prince Consort of Jisa, Xiangliu, and The Emissary

I wanted to know more about our villain for season 5 so I looked more into his titles.

Xiangliu:

it came up as, a venomous nine-headed snake monster that brings floods and destruction. Xiangliu may be depicted with his body coiled on itself. The nine heads are arranged differently in different representations. Modern depictions resemble the hydra with each head on a separate neck. Older wood-cuts show the heads clustered on a single neck, either side-by-side or in a stack three high, facing three directions.

But that can't be him sure they bring floods and destruction. But in the show we already see one of these and they have no giant bird form. In Season 4 Episode 4 Pig- Napped

I don't know why he said he was one of these...maybe he's related to one of that just what some people call him on the nine-head thing and he went along with it.

The Emissary title stumped me but it means that he was given or named himself a representative of something or someone. He mentioned being the consort of Jisa and the Wiki thinks it is a kingdom so maybe the Emissary of there but I think more likely with his obsession over it he's the Emissary of Chaos like the Harbinger of Chaos.

But it still got me no closer to him so I started looking at appearances.

I found this...

Jiu Feng:

Nine-headed Bird, also called “Jiu Feng” in Chinese, is a monster in Chinese Mythology. It is a legendary bird with a bird’s body and nine heads with human faces and is regarded as one of the earliest forms of the Chinese phoenix. It was worshiped by ancient natives in Hubei Province.

Pretty much WHAT he is but I went deeper on the WHO he is......

JTTW:

There was a demon with a similar name in the JTTW, I thought there was no way it was him no way it was that simple.....

"The Nine-Headed Beast (九頭蟲), also known as the Nine-Headed Prince Consort (九頭駙馬), is married to Wansheng Dragon King's daughter. He is armed with a Crescent Moon Spade (月牙鏟). He collaborates with his father-in-law to steal the Śarīra from Golden Ray Monastery. Sun Wukong enlists the help of celestial forces to deal with the demons. The Nine-Headed Beast has one of his heads bitten off by Erlang Shen's celestial hound but manages to escape."

It's him who got the description and the sharing consort title. I didn't think it could be because this character had no other link to Wukong than this one-off meeting but then again like I said before LMK is a JTTW fanfic.

In this scene where he mentioned being BOTH Friend and Foe, the Foe part made sense but the FREIND did not. Nor the why Wukong would not remember him in either capacity.

Also, this whole link to Chaos and these powers are out of nowhere for this character so they clearly added a few other things onto him as well.

But then again Wukong only sees him in this form. The Monkey does not get to see

Maybe if he saw him like this it might make him remember but that's just a theory.

Another name I found he is called is the Nine-Headed Bug or Worm listen to this...

(PS to Overly Saractist Production Fans this guy shows up in the Chapter after Bull King so the next episode of JTTW from their youtube channel if they ever get back to it)

"In his humanoid form, the Nine-Headed Bug is a man who has nine faces, and wears armor, holds a Crescent Moon Spade. However, in the 1986 series, he simply has one visible face like a regular person, wears regular purple -

aristocratic clothes, and a crown that consists of nine snake-like heads (hinting at his true form).

The Bug's -

true form is that of a gigantic bird that looks like an eagle, with nine heads, and blood on his back.

His true form is never fully revealed in the 1986 TV series, but a few heads of him hints at how it looks like."

The reason I mention this is because I've noticed this in my Iron Fan Legend, JTTW, and LMK. That the design for some of the characters comes from older media of JTTW like TV shows and movies live action or animated.

Wukong fillet in season 5 has a mix of all of his past media fillets designed with the middle cresting up for the two loops but we get a crest moon shape like in Journey to the West- Legends of the Monkey King (Middle image)

The bullhorn hair from Dream Journey 2: Princess Iron Fan in 2017.

and more.....

So using this description made sense.

I would also like to point out that I saw someone's comment but not sure who the NINE-Headed Demon in his beast form is missing one of his heads, his nine-headed title comes from the extra nine around the main one the main face does not count and they are right there are only eight of the small ones but go back up to the first quote where I mentioned Erlang's dog bit off one of those heads so it makes sense. If anything it might tell us THAT fight did go down just not the way in the book.

Good Puppy. :)

Hope you all enjoyed..