#viren avizandum theory

[raayllum]

One day he could bring death and destruction raining down on all of us. But for now he's so little! / I'll destroy all of you if I have to!

[salty-and-spiraling]

I know everyone has noticed and pointed out the similar appearances of the Merciful One and Sarai.

But I'd also like to point out that (almost) every other member of the Startouch Elf Council also looks like people in the show-- dead people. And in all of their deaths, Viren somehow played a part.

Sarai (indirectly)

Sarai was killed in battle by Avizandum after she went back and saved Viren. Not to mention Viren was right there when she died, capturing her last breath.

Harrow (indirectly)

It was Viren's persuasion that led Harrow to seek and end the life of the Avizandum and his idea to destroy the egg of the dragon prince-- even though he didn't actually go through with it-- for which Harrow took the blame and was assassinated for it.

Khessa (indirectly)

He was the vessel that brought Aaravos's bug to Lux Aurea. This allowed Aaravos to get close to Khessa, who then proceeded to possess another elf and kill her-- making Viren partially responsible.

Kpp'ar (directly)

Even though Kpp'ar isn't technically dead, he's not alive either so I count it. This one is obvious. Viren is the one who trapped Kpp'ar's soul in the coin, making Viren directly responsible for his demise.

-When creating this, I also noticed that all these people were in some type of position of authority within whatever monarchy they participated in-

Every member of the Startouch Elf Council has a look-alike in the show who is currently dead because of Viren-- or at least not living, in Kpp'ar's case. Every member except this one.

I'm not sure who this person looks like, if they look like anyone at all. And, if they do have a look-alike that might be introduced in s7, I wonder if they'll stay consistent with this pattern I found.

Like most of my observations, I'm not really sure where I'm going with this but I'd love for anyone to add on to this half-theory.

[kradogsrats]

Thinking about the suddenly pervasive theory that Callum and Rayla will break Runaan out of prison, and how that could resolve in a way that I don't hate (because while prison breaks are funny, on the surface it would also be a weird character regression on like... everyone's part). I do think it could work, though:

We know Rayla is going to go back to the Silvergrove and face her Ghosting, and it's not going to be a case of "well, now that Runaan is here to vouch for you, everything's fine"—she's specifically facing her comrades who died because of the choices she made, even though the story has made it clear they were the right choices. She and Runaan are intertwined in having to acknowledge the consequences of their last mission, so if Rayla is going to follow through on that, Runaan has to do the same. The only way busting him out of prison works with that is if after seeing a) Callum defy his brother and king for him on Rayla's account (reminiscent of what he maybe should have done), and b) Rayla then accept her trial in spite of all the mitigating circumstances that made her right, he chooses to go back to Katolis and acknowledge his wrongdoing to Ezran (and Zym).

The Ezran-Aanya dynamic is also going to be very important here, at least as (if not more) important as the Callum-Ezran one. Aanya represents someone else who lost both parents to Xadia, and specifically to Avizandum, himself—Zubeia's mate and Zym's father. When Viren came calling in s2 to rally the Pentarchy against Xadia, she had more reason than anyone there to throw in with him, but she refuses, citing her responsibility to prioritize her people and their lives instead of wasting them. Then in s3, she does take Duren to war, but to defend Xadia, Zubeia, and Zym against the combined forces of the rest of humanity. Realistically, she had every right to be in Prince Kasef's place, but she chose to commit to a course that went against all of her peers (as much as the other rulers can be called that) and counter to her own history of loss. I think she's going to be crucial in taking Ezran through the conclusion that it may be harder than he ever anticipated, but he should still choose love, and to make history a narrative of love. (P.S. if we find out some of what Harrow wrote in his last letter to Ezran here, that would be absolute chef's kiss.)

I think both of arcs do have to work in concert, if only because Ezran pardoning Runaan and letting go of that hate (though he may never forgive him, and he doesn't have to) is going to be a very tough sell if Runaan remains unrepentant. We also need to see the beginning of change to the system that Runaan represents, so him changing—beyond just admitting that he shouldn't have attacked Rayla—is important.

I'm kind of ignoring the potential for Callum's emotional development here because tbh I only find Callum interesting when he's fucked up. It makes every kind of sense for him to choose a passing whim of Rayla's ("I want my dads back together") over Ezran's emotional struggle, because he's also going to choose Rayla later, when the stakes are much higher. The problem is cycling him back from that after the fact. Is there anything that would make him see that was a pretty shitty thing to do? I'm genuinely uncertain whether he's capable of more than "sorry I hurt you, but I was right," given that he really does rival Claudia for emotional immaturity in some ways.

[xadian-daydreams]

Aaravos' Plan for Viren

In Reel James S5 interview Ehasz confirmed there was a connection between Aaravos' 'swallowed Aditi' comment and the giant skeleton found at Aaravos prison.

Which has lead to a lot of speculation about shapeshifting Aaravos, or possessing Luna Tenebris corpse etc.

My speculation is that this skeleton is from a creature Aaravos created, but his working was interrupted by the Orphan Queen and the archdragons' plan. Heck, this could be the main reason he was caught.

Aaravos has been tricking Viren into retrying this great working. Only better! Because Viren has something that wasn't around 300 years ago.

Plus, a theory about Kim'dael's Bloodmoon cult.

Spoilers from Season 4 & 5 and Book 2 Sky novel, and stuff from interviews, below the cut.

Warning - really long post...

History Repeats Itself if Someone Weaves Threads of Fate Tight Enough.

Events occurring in the present and 300 years ago are echoing each other extremely loudly.

The Dragon Monarch dies - Luna Tenebris and Avizandum

A human mage/king, that is under Aaravos' influence, plans a war - Viren and unnamed blond king.

A politically important and magically powerful individual goes missing, which would present difficulties in transferring power after Dragon Monarch's death - Queen Aditi and Zym

Both of these magically powerful individual meet 'swallow' fates, though Zym survives his.

There is massive upheaval in the Sunfire kingdom - Queen Aditi's disappearance is blamed on archdragons, Viren/Aaravos corrupt the Sunforge and contaminates Lux Aurea.

While Viren's dragon slaying and eggnapping started this echo, Aaravos has been guiding events so they align up. The only event that doesn't immediately seem to be blamed on Aaravos or Viren are Luna Tenebris' death - but, it does seem suspicious, and I'm going to expand on a theory about that in a bit. But the take away point is that I believe that Aaravos has tried this plan before 300 years ago and failed.

The Great Working - a break down on how Aaravos has been chivvying Viren unwittingly along.

Right from the first silent meeting across the mirror. Aaravos doesn't bother establishing any alternative communication (like writing or signing). After Aaravos notices Viren has Ziard's staff, he simply presents the spell artefacts and, eventually, Viren plays along.

The Blood binding ritual - They both make and drink an enchanted potion, then spill their blood into part of the enchantment artefacts, which combines and enchants their blood, then Aaravos drinks the blood to create Lil Bug Pal. Then Aaravos presents Lil Bug Pal as a means of contact from wherever he's imprisoned.

However, going by Book 2 Sky novel, this spell pre-dates Aaravos' imprisonment.

A little while later the mirror mage returned to view, carrying a small ornate chest. ... Viren felt he had seen this object somewhere before . ... Yes, he could see it perfectly in his memory - a chest which could be this one's twin, or sibling at least, belonged to Kpp'Ar. Certainly, it was among the irreplaceable relics his mentor had destroyed during the profligate tantrum he called his repentance.

Channelling - passing energy/magic between them, which cemented a connection. Viren is being apprehended by the guards, Aaravos warns him that he's in danger and to follow his instructions in battle. Viren could have just gone back into the secret passage, or not made things worse for his defence by fighting. In Book 2: Sky novel describes this as;

He could sense his movements and actions being gently directed. Viren did not feel controlled, but he understood that somehow, invisible strings connected him with the Startouch elf. ... Though his [Aaravos] actual location was a mystery even to him, there was no denying that in this moment he was in a way present and completely connected to Viren.

Gestation - Aaravos convinces Viren to smuggle Bug Pal into the Sunfire kingdom by hiding it down his throat. This has similarity to how Aaravos formed Bug Pal in the first place and Bug Pal becomes significantly bigger.

Empowering - This happens off screen, so speculation here. Between corrupting the Sunforge scene and returning to the human armies Bug Pal grows much bigger. Presumably, this growth comes from energy from the Sunforge. Aaravos possibly presented this as teaching and grabbing the power for the Hearts of Cinder spell used on the army, as that's the next big spell Viren casts. 🤔 My other speculation is it forges a link for the working to the Sunforge - Aaravos has been purposefully targeting the Sunfire kingdom as part of his plan, even before he was imprisoned, as he picked the most disruptive time possible to disappear Queen Aditi. Significance of this in a bit.

Swallowing - While Aaravos original phrased it that taking down Zubeia and capturing Zym would garner him world attention - so more political power, after the Hearts of Cinder spell there's no more beating about the bush. Viren is invested in this ride and Aaravos just promises he can take Zym's power for his own. Aaravos himself casts this dark magic spell via Bug Pal and Zaird's staff. Viren just has to stand there and make off-putting faces and noises while receiving this... bounty. This is clearly one of the crux parts of the working - stealing a world leading power and gifting it to a human.

Aaravos' spell rewinds to - "He swallows your heart. He swallows your mind. He swallows your power." The phrasing matching the disturbing "You're just like your grandmother. Would you like to know the truth of her fate before you meet yours? I swallowed her." Which makes me wonder if Aaravos has done this spell before, only using that blond king shown in the imprisonment flashbacks to steal Aditi's power, rather than some cannibalism thing.

Side note - How could Aditi compare to an infant archdragon for use in the working? Aditi is particularly powerful - even the archdragons respected her. There's also hints she possesses a unique Light ability that helps her make judgments - the archdragon's held her judgment as the highest, she's called "guiding light" and the "Light of the Sun Incarnate" and there's that scene where bright light erupts from her glabella. This power seems Stars adjacent (and potentially a threat to Aaravos' secrets and plans).

“You are not afraid of me—but what of the dragons?” asked Kim’dael. “You would dare invoke their wrath?” “The dragons know better than to invoke mine,” Aditi said. She struck the metal again and again, purposeful and confident. Not a shred of her strength was wasted. “Is that not why you came to me? For my protection?” “I came because the dragons trust your judgment. Your guiding light,” Kim’dael told her, feigning meekness. “But my queen, they do not fear you. The dragons fear nothing.” “They feared you once.” Kim’dael twitched a smirk of pride and quickly hid it. ... “A token of my protection,” Aditi told her. “As I promised.” “A false promise. How…unbecoming. I thought it beneath the Sunfire elves to lie.” “I did not lie. That collar claims you as mine, and as I told you, the dragons know better than to risk my wrath.” Aditi gestured to the thing around Kim’dael’s neck.  The Queen's Mercy

Then Viren took a really long first step down the world's tallest stairs and died. Two years later Claudia uses a resurrection spell Aaravos taught her via Bug Pal, and the 30 day prison hunt begins.

Hatching the homunculus out of the cocoon. Claudia is told this is to create a guide who will lead them to the information they need to locate Aaravos' prison - but Viren is who was expected to cast the spell. Instead, Viren's hesitance means Claudia just decides to perform the spell herself. Kinda curious how this misstep will effect the working.

Consuming the homunculus' essence - Even before Claudia has completed her mission, Aaravos is urging Viren to commit the life extension spell, before the resurrection spell expires.

Now he's here for you. And I will show you how to use every drop of his living essence to restore your own life and your future. The resurrection spell will expire tonight, and you will die. You must make the sacrifice. If you don't, tomorrow, the sun will rise... and you will not. [Infantis Sanguine]

Which harkens back to what Aaravos was promising before Viren died;

When you capture the dragonling, I will show you how to take his power, how to imbue yourself with all his magic and potentials, so that you will transcend the limits of your human form. Then none will dare stand against you. [Final Battle]

If you break down what Aaravos says here as steps - 1, take power, 2, imbue yourself, 3, transcend human limit - then this is a strong indicator Aaravos always intended for Viren to consume the stolen power from Zym (and the Sunforge) by absorbing Sparklepuff's essence. That the absorption occurs during a life extension spell is just making omlets out of broken eggs.

The goal all along was to "transcend the limits of your human form" Very peculiar wording. Remember the giant skeleton at Aaravos prison - the big creature Aaravos created was formerly the blond king.

Why Viren?

At the end of S3 Aaravos' Bug Pal is free to roam, can talk to others (he speaks to Claudia) and can possibly even cast spells. So, couldn't Aaravos pick a not dead dark mage, restart the spell, go wild in abandoned Lux Aurea and just sneak in to spell zap Zym, instead of taking 2 years to resurrect Viren? Heck, he could convince Claudia that, with this method, he could gift her the power to permanently resurrect Viren - she'd even know her way around Katolis Castle to grab the mirror, if it's necessary.

Viren has one accomplishment, with still existing ingredients, that's making him too tempting to pass up. The Mystery of Aaravos opening even hints what's particularly of interest about Viren to Aaravos.

He killed Avizandum with the Weapon of Vengeance spell. The weapon is still there, stuck in Avizandum's remains. A spell powerful enough to fell "the most powerful being in the world" and it's magic is keyed to Viren.

Why I think the cursed unicorn horn is important to the working? I don't think Luna Tenebris just keeled over for no reason, I think she died due to Aaravos' machination to get ingredients for the working. But rather than blond king killing her, Aaravos got the Bloodmoon cult to kill Luna Tenebris.

First, the blatant bloodmoon image when discussing her death. The cult's big rituals require the power of the bloodmoon, so they can infuse essence and powers into blood, which they can consume at their convenience and use their powers outside of moon's cycle.

Go back to the Queen's Mercy short story and Kim'dael is proud of how the dragons once feared the cult. Avizandum only hunts them down after the death of Luna Tenebris - they've been active long enough that most of the horror stories humans have about Moonshadow elves are actually about Bloodmoon elves. It could be because he discovered what they did and believed they'd become too big a threat.

Luna Tenebris is a Moon Archdragon, and the cult is about increasing their moon powers, by sacrificing others using dark magic rituals. Yes, the Bloodmoon cult uses dark magic - that's straight up confirmed by Ehasz in AIPT comic S5 interview.

AIPT: Kim’dael is one cool character. A lot of times when you have graphic novel spinoffs, they’re just that. But you bring a character who you introduced in the graphic novels and introduce her in such a cool way, that she has to be a big player in seasons six and seven, right? JR: She’s awesome, we have plans for Kim’dael that go beyond the show. AE: She complicates the story in a really important way. In the first three seasons, the narrative of the world is that humans use dark magic, primal magic is for elves and dragons, humans are naughty and bad because they do this. Kim’dael shows that there’s elves who have gone there. The way she does, the way that she does, is beyond primal magic. She’s found ways through dark magic to extend her primal moon powers. It’s very evil how she is able to do what she does and extend her life, and use her powers that would normally only be used under the full moon, she can use anytime because she’s infused blood with the light of the full moon. That’s dark. We love Kim’Dael, but we love what she means about the world of Xadia, and the narrative that’s not been acknowledged. There’s darkness and complication across the Elven world as well.

If Aaravos gifted dark magic to humans, then who else could he have gifted this knowledge to? (Kinda hoping he personally knows Kim'dael, that'd be a cool twist). And his prize would have been archdragon blood infused with the most powerful archdragon's essence.

Why is Aaravos after an ingredient related to the most powerful archdragon around at the time? Because he's trying to create his own archdragon - a Stars archdragon. (Possibly also Dark magic archdragon, if that even makes sense, like - dark magic corrupted Stars archdragon?)

There's that info in the Tales of Xadia handbook about Stars Devourer dragons - a myth that when a star disappears it's due to one of these dragons entering the core of a star and absorbing its magic. (Heck, there's even a little legend about a king who wanted to be remembered forever and made a wish upon a star dragon bone. His name was forgotten, but the legend lives on, which does also fit it neatly with the whole bones of a king who failed to become a star dragon).

But, what if the artificial Stars dragon can only really become a true star dragons if they manage to consume a star - in this case, the Sunforge. Which is why Aaravos has been targeting Lux Aurea.

So, 300 years ago, using Luna archdragon essence and the Stars adjacent Guiding Light power of Aditi, Aaravos uses a human dark mage to create a pseudo-dragon, but is unable get around to completing it and it dies. The Orphan Queen's image shows her catching out Aaravos' treachery when his own Key shines the Stars primal - what if she came across this pseudo-dragon and the Key confirmed it was a Stars dragon in the making. The archdragons not only imprisoned Aaravos, they put down his creation and left the remains over his prison as a warning to anyone who might think to release Aaravos about what kind of horror he's trying to unleash. (I'm assuming Jailer arranged the placement).

Now, Aaravos has Sparklepuff imbued with infant Sky Archdragon potential, a cursed unicorn horn powerful enough to fell a Dragon Monarch (unicorns are Stars primal) and the Sunforge under his control. Which should make this attempt much easier (well, except for Viren trying to skip out on it).

Why would Aaravos want to create a Stars archdragon?

Possible reasons;

Viren could channel energy and magic from Aaravos, if this is an open channel, then Aaravos could channel power from an archdragon. He's already mastered all 6 primals, getting archdragon powers is pretty much the only power upgrade he hasn't got.

Aaravos could just be planning to switch bodies with his creation. (Not my fave answer, but you never know).

Going by Ripples short story, Aaravos desires include making the other Startouch elves fall (Plus, the Mystery of Aaravos title includes falling stars). However, they're no longer on Xadia. If they're somewhere 'heavenly' (eyes Leola's Last Wish star suspiciously) and Aaravos is exiled and can't access it, then he'll need a Stars primal creature who can.

I can't think of a more powerful weapon then your own pet Stars archdragon, whoever he's got a beef with will be in deep doodoo. I don't think the Novablade is gonna cut it as a counter to a Stars archdragon.

Do you want to conquer Xadia? The dragon monarch is usually the most powerful archdragon at the time, a Stars archdragon would probably legitimately become Xadia's monarch using this standard.

And that about wraps it up. So, there are a lot of speculations and what ifs in this theory, but I think it ties a bunch of things together nicely.

I also like the way that Ezran/Zym bond would be parallelled by Aaravos/Viren if this theory turns out to be true. One bond being made of friendship and sincerity, the other out of trickery and dark magic. I can see these two bonds clashing and being very embodying of the show's theme. In Book 2 : Sky novel it's very obvious that the scene where Viren fights the guards channeling Aaravos' power, and the scene where Ezran helps teach Zym to fly when at the Moonstone path, are intended to be compared.

Pretty invested in seeing how much I got wrong or if I got anything right come Season 6.

Thanks for reading!

[beautifulterriblequeen]

heyo! so i stumbled on this theory of yours 2 days ago and aaa i love it —

https://www.tumblr.com/beautifulterriblequeen/184887201620/mirror-checks-runaan-and-aaravos?source=share

but i’m so curious, could you explain?

what’s the reversing effect and reversed reflection? i’m a bit confused from this point, i looked a bit into one-way glass and im still confused yeah :P

somewhat unrelated but this theory is SO` much to me if it’s true bc i’ve been wanting to write aaravos povfor ages and it would basically solidify that 1. aaravos can see out of the mirror when the other side is still light as long as his side is dark (it wasn’t clear in canon if both sides had to be dark for him to see out) and 2. he can tell when he’s being watched and 3. i just find it interesting that he would have possibly been watching runaan in this case so yeah odsjfsdkafasldjfsldkf so yea i’d really like to learn more about what it means/is based on 🙏

Aww I love this old theory! The tldr is this: when someone's reflection in a surface is backward from how it should appear, there's magic involved.

We see this happen multiple times, but not everywhere that it probably should, so it could just be a repeated animation error. Still, it's been entertaining to think about, all these years.

Runaan's reflection should show his chest markings and broken horn on the other side of his body if this was just a normal mirror reflection, but instead it looks like we're looking directly at him, instead of at a mirror image. It could've been a single error with his reflection, but since I found more like this, it made me think the mirror might be up to something.

Rayla's reflection in Ethari's sword is actually correct - but Ethari's is wrong. You can see his fringe right there in the frame, yet it's not reflected correctly, it's oddly on the far side of his face, which should not be possible unless magic is at work. Or, again, animation error.

I thought this might have to do with the fact that he ghosted her, and the Moon magic was affecting the reflection. But in the pond outside the tree house, both of their reflections are correct. So hmm.

And here's Viren, before and after "activating" the magic mirror. If you watch his hair specifically, you can see his reflection goes one way, and then the other. This felt deliberate, and made me think there was something to the other scenes, and to the idea as a whole.

When the dragang looks into the mirror back in the Storm Spire in S4, everyone's reflections are correct, but we don't get a shot of them just as the mirror is turning on.

In the end, it's inconclusive. It's very possible that, in earlier seasons, more reflection errors just happened and no one caught them, but as time went on more of those scenes were animated correctly. Time will tell, but honestly I've set this theory down as "it's really fun but I don't think it's canon."

As for your points, I would love for Aaravos to have the power to look out anytime he wanted to. His powers are diminished, but he's still incredibly gifted with magic. If he could see out at any time, that gives him so much information to work with! He would have seen any conversations that Avizandum and Zubeia had. He'd have seen Zym's egg. He'd have seen Viren pondering how to turn the thing on.

And just like you mentioned, he'd have seen Runaan getting coined. I've checked - the mirror was definitely pointing in such a way that an observer would have seen it happen.

These are all situations that give Aaravos information, which is his bread and butter when he's trying to get what he wants - freedom. So I do hope he can do that.

One thing he can definitely do is your 2nd point, though! When the dragang and Zubeia turned the mirror on in the Storm Spire, Aaravos immediately knew even though his back was to the mirror, and he turned around to approach, seeking who had activated it.

The way that little spin immediately told on him for fooling Viren back in S2 though 😂 omg. All that business with adjusting cloaks and going in and out of doors and pretending to search the shelves for a book but just leaving instead, and the great dramatic reveal that Aaravos could also darken his room and see Viren, thereby catching up to the great and clever human mage and owing him everything for making contact... it was all for show!

Aaravos knew Viren was there from the very beginning, just like he knew Callum was there, and he led him a merry chase, getting him curious and intrigued and hungry for power before closing the trap and binding them together with the caterpillar spell that resulted in Sir Sparklepuff and a (hopefully) foolproof way to free him from his prison as long as the human played his role.

Oops!

The mirror is broken now, so we might not get any further lore or interactions with it, but it sure was a fun magical artifact. I'm never going to look at a reflective surface quite the same again.

[arcsdragon]

Aaravos's prison

I think I know where/what Aaravos's prison is

(MAJOR spoilers for season 5)

((ps this is my first post/theory so I'm sorry if it's a mess))

In episode 9 (of season 5 oc) we see a large statue of Aaravos and the Jailer, well I think that's actually him, and the magic pearl(?) is his soul, he's basically trapped in both mind and body.

we've seen characters turn to stone before, ie Avizandum, and a lot in promotional things, and even the new intro with Viren who ends up dying this season, so this could be a hint.

in ep 4 in the bookery the poem they'er looking at says 'Laureloin was no more' But they also call the startouch immortal and undying, Callum just assumes 'no more' means death, but what if it's nothing else? Say separating a soul/consciousness from a body? Aaravos seems to project his consciousness and consciousness throughout the seasons (and Viren's in the 5th) when he's in his ghosty spectral form, something I assume that's star magic because it doesn't fit the other arcanum accept maybe moon.

arguable the best evidence for this is what happened to Janai's grandmother "I swallowed her" so this man either fork and knife ate her, shrunk her, or his actually body is big enough where he can just do that.

and as I said before about imagery, this season stepped it up A LOT, and during promotions we see a lot of Aaravos holding, and puppeteering characters, maybe another hint?

if Aarvos is actually that big, that would kinda make sense in the scale of the world. What I mean is, there's some animals/creatures that are just MASSIVE, I understand it being a fantasy, but when I first saw the size of arch dragons I was like ???, but if the world was originally made by startouch elves the sizes make sense, the hermit crab Sealegs, the amblers (the big camel animal thing in the desert episode season 3 ep 5) would be to scale if they really are that massive

also if you follow the dragon prince on instagram (maybe on twitter too? idk don't have it) on their website they'll post short stories, one centered around Aaravos implies his fall to Xaida made The Lake of Outcast, and if that's true, the impact of something that big would make a big crater and name make a lot of sense.

also less of evidence but maybe not? a while ago, before the character charts where released someone in a panel said Aaravos was the biggest character, there was a meme going around that he's bigger than Avizandum, but what if he actually is?

as for the pearl being his soul, the only thing I really got is separating the soul from the body making him 'no more' and the fact when he does magic his eyes are white and iridescent like pearls are.

So what does that mean in the future? Hopefully an epic final battle, but also I have a few predictions. The next step the crew is going to take is going after the Novablade/Starscraper, I think it's literally going to be a massive sword. And going a little off the rails a little bit, I love the idea that only a startouch elf can wield it because of its size, but that could be wishful thinking, I'd love a startouch to join the crew, maybe the Jailor?? (give me more startouch lore)

anyways tell me if you have any rebuttals, evidence, or more thoughts!

[darkmagicmirror]

Today's a good day to remind the fandom about this passage in The Dragon Prince novelization of Book 2: Sky:

All the animals had cleared out of the grove except for one young fawn. Claudia sat cross-legged on the ground, and the fawn approached her curiously. She offered it a milk-fruit.

As it enjoyed the fruit, Claudia stroked the baby deer's head gently. It was sweet and innocent. A beautiful tawny fawn with lovely white spots. It lifted its chin so Claudia could scratch underneath. A single tear trickled down Claudia's face.

"I'm sorry, little one. But you are agile, young, and alive," she said. Claudia touched the deer on its soft nose. "And I need you."

The deer gazed up at her with its milky-brown eyes. Her heart began to melt, but she closed her eyes and thought of Soren. She loved her brother so much.

...

But Claudia had never killed an animal this size before, and she wasn't strong enough to make a clean kill.

Anyway the points being:

Claudia doesn't, and has never, killed things for fun. She doesn't even want to, but she does it because it's the only way to heal her brother.

She has never killed anything bigger than a fawn, or even the same size, before.

And the first point I make because I still will never understand the "Claudia can't be trusted around cute animals" attitude some people in this fandom have because they think she just randomly kills things? Give me a break lol.

Second point is just that if Claudia is barely strong enough to kill a baby deer, I'm 99.9% sure she didn't kill a unicorn. (The unicorn would also have to be smaller than a fawn, to say she might have killed it.) They haven't shown how Claudia got the horn, but I'm sticking with my theory that the unicorn gave it voluntarily until canon proves otherwise. (I don't see how she'd be strong enough to steal a horn, either.) (Yes, I think the unicorn probably knew what the horn would be used for and also thought it was a necessary catalyst for change /shrug.)

Also Puzzle House spoilers under the cut:

There's most likely some sort of symbolism/foreshadowing with Claudia taking the unicorn figure's horn to uncover the button, and then putting it back and apologizing.

And ALSO...

Unless Claudia has a really fucking good memory, or drew a copy of the map, how did she remember where the unicorn was? It was implied that she found the unicorn not long before Viren and co. went to kill Avizandum.

It's either one of those two things, or a third option, which is that she could still read the scroll at that time, too. After getting deeper into dark magic. (As it is, the Earth giant saw Claudia do dark magic right in front of him, and it didn't take away from him believing that she had a pure heart.)

But yeah, just saying, thanks for coming to my TED talk 🖤 /lh

[an-actual-attack-helicopter]

Ok so we all know that Sarai was an Archdragon thousands of years ago but what if Luna Tenebris coined Aaravos and that’s why Claudia uses dark magic sorta like how Rayla is actually a celestial elf that lives in the corpse at the bottom of the Sea of the Castout so Viren actually won’t die because he’s secretly a bumblescorp right and that would mean Akiyu x Avizandum is canon because of the Pip theory I mean we literally have scientific evidence that Viren (who is obviously a trans demiboy) and Aaravos are in a situationship that’s an analogy for alcoholism.

Also Phoe Phoe isn’t a bird, she’s a plane. Get it right.

[breadsandwiches]

Some random comparisons and thoughts about Viren and Avizandum (bc clearly something is going on here).

Thunder as the leader and protector of Xadia vs. Viren as the leader and protector of humanity. Both of them enforcing the cycle of violence to fulfill their purpose.

Viren saving his young son's life vs. Thunder failing to save his son. In general something about their kids, about losing them, not being there for them, the regret/remorse about the past..

Aaravos uses petrified Viren as a toy/pawn. Does this mean he used to have a similar relationship with Avizandum? Did Avizandum betray him?

Related: Thunder imprisoning Aaravos vs. Viren freeing him?? Or is Viren going the same route as Thunder (turning against Aaravos)?

Avizandum failing to see past his mistakes/shortsightedness until his death, never living to see a better world vs. Viren working to change for the better and actively contributing to peace and prosperity on the continent!!!! I'm manifesting it!!!

[raayllum]

Viren and Avizandum

+ bonus:

[sunstone-nerding]

Thoughts after watching the teaser for TDP S4 at Netflix’s Geeked Week. (Spoilers are under the cut.)

I have a theory, that when Viren was resurrected by Claudia, it purged all the dark magic corruption from him. Supporting evidence: 1.) He looks normal right after waking up at the end of S3, and 2.)  In Through the Moon, Rayla sees a very corrupted Viren in the cocoon, instead of something Aaravos-shaped. A minor variation: Claudia’s magic didn’t “purify” Viren -- at least, not completely. Instead, it was the caterpillar, eating up the corruption (+ some of Zym’s essence), so it could pupate.

How does this tie into today’s teaser? Read more...

Well, if Viren no longer has residual dark magic in his body, that means that the next time he uses it, it will likely effect him as though it was his first spell. I’m thinking...sickness, fever, and intense dreams that dig into his psyche. 

So, this sequence could be his mindscape wrestling with how he destroyed Avizandum so horribly. 

We’ll have to wait and see!!!

[lily-lilou]

My understanding and analysis of the magical system in The Dragon Prince. Part 2. Primal, dark, love and life magic.

So, this second post (here’s the first one) will present my theory about this: about the magical system as a whole thing (more or less), about love and life magic, I will explain why it’s two different things, what’s their place in the magical system, their role, about how they're supposed to work.

1st part. what proof, in the show, do we have about another kind of magic?

Well, take a look at this:

The two pictures are when Avizandum and Zym are attacking, with lightning. they are the exact same colors (cool, nothing exceptional, Lily, really cool...)

Yeah, but now look at this, when Zym is trying to wake up (maybe even heal?) his mom:

See all the colors, here? We have white, green, blue, purble, some kind of pink-orange-yellow...: well, every colors, as if every kind of primal magic were present. And I don't think it's just to make things pretty here.

Because it's not the only time we see this phenomenon, where “all the colors” are here. There’s two other examples:

1st look at when Viren is sucking what I suppose is Zym's life/magic's force out of our dragonling:

Once again, we can see all the colors, like with Zym's lightning to wake up his mom.

But the most impressive example is when Zym’s egg is hatching:

The egg was dead (he had turned black for several minutes) we saw some usual lightning (blue) who then changed with all colors and he literraly turned back to life:

So, from the interview linked in the post before (at 9min00 or something), we know there is that "earlier, less differenciated power", a "kind of magic that's deeper". With this statement (“less differenciated power”) and pictures above, it seems we have a magic who looks like a mix of all primal magic. I will even say it’s “life-magic”.

edit: 

I found this following pictures in “the art of the dragon prince”. Here, the colors are even more differenciable. And there is indeed, six of them (white(a little blue), yellow, green, purple, red and blue (I guess respectively sky, moon, earth, stars, sun and ocean)

2nd part. What is “life-magic”?

I said what we saw above is “life-magic” and it could make sense:

First, because of all the colors we saw (as I said, as if all kind of primal magic were here).

Second: just observe the world, how it works: the sun, the moon, the earth, the ocean, the sky (and I guess the stars too) need to work together to bring life. (Hey, what is the sun, alone, if not a giant useless fire ball? What is the earth without the sun to warm it, the ocean to irrigate it? Doesn't the ocean need the earth to contain it? et caetera...)

(still in the same interview above) we know Aaravos sutdied magic deeply, that he was interested in this "deeper, less differenciated magic" they mentionned. So, "life magic" being a mix of all others magic would makes even more sense if Aaravos is the one (from the artbook we can guess he has at least a hand in it) behind this symbol (because it would represent “life” it more or less perfectly):

Plus, you'll notice another thing when Aaravos and Viren tried to kill Zym, Viren's eyes became, while he was filling himself with Zym's “life”, just like those of Aaravos in S2:

If I'm right, Aaravos could have known there is a deeper magic and so find a way to harvest it with dark magic. It could explain why he tried to reach other arcanum, to reach that "deeper magic", that "life". (or maybe he doesn't know it's "life"? too early to say anything here, I guess)

(speaking aside, another theory of mine is that he harvested other primal creatures to gain their power and so reach others arcanum, which would also explain why every Xadian hates and fear him - which also could mean he was trying to give this to Viren, the sky arcanum, I mean... anyway, that's not the topic yet.)

BUT, stating that Life-magic is composed of all primal magic only is maybe true, but incomplete.

I just said this symbol (yes again, I love it):

Could be “life magic”. But if “life-magic” is only composed of all kind of primal magic… what does that giant rune in the middle is for?

Dark magic, you’ll said.

Dark magic? But we said earlier that dark magic is the exact opposite of “life-magic”. Because it’s “death and hate”, when the other is “life and love”.

…

Wait, love? The big rune in the middle would be “love”?

Exactly! (I promise, we’ll dig into this in the following part)

“love is magic, magic is life, so love is life”.

(PS. Again: “love is magic” is something you can find in Callum’s spellsbook several time. It’s not from me)

But in dark magic, no love, so no life. Why? Think at how dark magic works: it's killing and stealing and it hollows you from the inside (more about this in the part dedicated to dark-magic). I would even say: It's stealing life from others, so the price you have to pay is to lose your own (life-life? life-love? Viren became so hateful with time... but I'm digressing.)

So, now, look at Zym again when he's trying to save/wake up his mom.

We find all these colors, but he's not like Aaravos, he never reached any other arcanum. I mean, he can barely control his own. I think in that moment, Zym isn't using his usual lightning but, maybe without even knowing it, he's digging in that life-love magic because he loves his mom, he wants to help her, to save her. So something else, something big is happening.

And it would be wonderful if his attempt to wake her is the true reason she wakes up at the end of S3...

I would even add Aaravos’s quote before I conclued the end of this 2nd part: “Those who fail the test of love are simple animals, that deserved to be motivated by fear". It could means Aaravos know, to some extent, the existence, or maybe the importance of love in magic. And if he’s really behind the symbol above… (but I won’t digress on my theory about Aaravos and magic and the test of love, because it’s not the subject either and this post is already long enough…)

So, conclusion of this part: true "life magic" would be composed on all primal magic AND love. (That, or "true life magic" is composed of all primal magic and the way to reach it without killing others is love. I would also makes sense but we’ll see when we will talk about “love magic”)

3rd part: what is “love-magic?

I just said that the symbol of dark magic could in fact represent the magical system, and so “life magic” and the rune in the middle would be the representation of “love”.

Nice statement! Any proof? Let’s analyze this closely, then!

On the symbol, we can see two things:

1st, all the primal magic.

2nd, a big rune in the middle. Until now, we thought it was a rune representing dark magic, I just stated it wasn’t, that it could be “love”.

When I said that on Reddit, a nice fella, u/randomorph came with his own theory, here: he proposed the interesting idea that the two soulfangs we can see in the endcredits in S1 with a heart above their head (meaning "love"), just look like the symbol/rune of dark magic.

One one part, soulfangs serpent seems dark-magic related in some aspects, but on the other part, what we see here, it's love. Two serpents who are in love.

So if that dark-magic's rune above is inspired by the two soulfangs, it could really be the proof the very rune of dark magic means, is, in fact, the rune of "love". (And maybe that Aaravos doesn’t fully understand what “love” truly is... but once again, that’s another theory...)

Sidenote: another nice fella thought that the two serpents are also similar to “Caduceus”, the symbol used in the medical world, with the two serpents. I still don’t know exactly what to do with this, but the parallel is interesting. And it wouldn’t be the first similarity with the bible.

4th part: how is this love-magic supposed to work? (I'll talk about dark magic later)

Nice, we have now proof (well, more or less, it’s still a big theory who could end up being totally wrong) that we have a life-magic, composed of primal magic and love magic, with a dark magic who’s strangely not fitting in this…

But for now, what about love-magic?

I had a theory I couldn't prove a while ago and I had let it down: I thought that "love" was the kind of magic humans could really do. But I had let it down because Xadians have proven they can love too. And I also had to place Callum and his arcanum in this.

BUT! thanks to u/the_mad_ and his superb theory here, we have proof now. To summarise it partially (but go read it, it's worth it): humans have some special kind of power, they can create a magical connection with other, it's "love-magic", and dark magic is a corrupted version of it (but once again, I'll abord dark magic later). As he said it "humans can do this special form of magic because humans have (or can form) a special magical connection with each other and with other creatures and objects, in particular through love (and empathy)".

And indeed, we saw this three time, especially in the novel.

We saw this with Marcos when he made a connection with Rayla (it's the-mad interpretation since we have the scene from Rayla’s POV and I totally agree with him ^^),

Ezran made a connection with Zym while in the water, in the frozen lake.

Viren made one with Harrow in the novel, and it ended really bad for him because Harrow rejected him. (no really, I insist, go read his post).

And all these connections are more or less described in the same magical way.

u/the_mad_ also mentionned Ezran's power as a more visible, powerful manifestation of this love-magic humans can perform. I had that HC too, I never agree with the idea of our boy being earth-primal-related, because in Callum's spellsbook, it's never said earthblood elves can talk to animals. In fact, no primal-magic seems to really fit with this power.

But with love-magic, it does.

But… what about Xadians? They can also love. The moonfam is a proof of this, Janai and the dragon queen too. Well, yes, it's love, and yes everyone can love, without exception. But for Xadian it's not necesseraly magical because it's not their magic. Xadians have primal magic and humans love-magic.

So, to summarize this part: humans have a magic on their own. It's love, but not usual love**, it's something that gave them the ability to "link" themselves to others, even to link others together**, but that's another part.

5th part, how love and primal magic works? What happen when separated? What happen when reunited?

Thanks again to u/the_mad, I finally found an explanation (I could be totally wrong but let's just say I'm at least not far from the truth... hem!!)

Take a look again at what I now call the "life-magic" symbol, formerly called "dark-magic symbol" (it’s the last time you’ll see it, I promise ^^):

The important part now is the big circle (in white) in the middle, circling "love" and connecting all primal magic. The important part now, is this "connection". It's as if "love" is the link between all primal magic, as if love it's what makes them work together.

u/the_mad_ talked about love-magic connecting people, which seems to be true. But I think it's not only between individuals. If this theory is right, that connection could be applied in a much larger scale. I would even said it concernes the whole world.

So, what did I mean by "love-magic is connecting all primal magic? Well...:

In HBMP ep2, Aaron Ehasz talked about how Xadians live in their part of the world, and it appears they're not really cohabitating together. They know each other, they know about each other, but it doesn't seem to be more than that.

In HBMP ep5, we even learn that there's probably several Mooshadow village in the forest other than the Silvergrove, and they don't know where all the others are. They're not "connected", not really.

We also have a description of Ibis on the official website, where we learn that "He has long been a liaison between elves and dragons", which could mean the two species aren't that close.

And what about the "I know that sound, that's not a good sound" from Rayla when she heard the dragon roar?... that reveal a lot about relationship between elves and dragons... (plus, still in HBMPep2, Aaron teased a story who happened between Rayla, Runaan and a dragon, which would explain the quote just above (personal theory: the dragon is the reason of Runaan’s torso scar). But alas, j.Richmond stopped him before we could get more. my HC is that Runaan's scars came from here, which would add to the idea elves and dragons aren't always getting along.)

Another proof would be the dragonguard, elven warriors, running away when the dragon king died. They didn't care about Zym's fate. (Except for Lain and Tiadrin, but I'm gonna talk about this later)

I would add how the other moonshadow elves except Runaan, in the novelization, showed how... deeply attached they were to Rayla. A child they saw growing up for almost 16 years. Worst of all, Moon magic, according to Callum's spellsbook, is supposed to be love-related. If that's "love" for any lambda Moonshadow elf, don't show me what "hate" is for them, please!

(and here my... approximative localisation of elves in Xadia...)

All these points lead to this: we don't have yet a whole picture of Xadia, but it seems that Xadians are not close to each other, in a matter of relationship. It's not war or anything like that, it more looks like a huge lack of socialisation, lack of relationship.

So, no humans = no love-magic = no connection. It seems coherent. Xadians never approached humans, they studied them from afar (I had found a super analysis on Tumblr about informations each side has on the other, about how it seems elves have more accurate intel on humans than humans on Xadians - but sorry, I can't find it anymore :() they even bannished humans and look at the result: Xadians are separated from each other, barely interacting it seems. Dragons from elves, elves from elves according to their arcanum. Xadia is stagnant.

But now, what happened when Xadians get close to humans, when they work with them?

At the storm spire, one human boy (ok, it's Ezran, not any human could have done this) brought several dragons to fight alongside sunfire elves and humans to fight an army of monsters, (not sure if Ibis would have achieved this alone)

Callum started to talk through Rayla about that toxic cycle in the beginning of S1, and it touched her profundly (as we can see at the end of S2). He and his brother managed to touch her to the core and it changed her on a lot of aspects. She's more healthy now, everyone can agree on that...

Her contact with Villads changed her

And talking about their quest, they literally changed the world (... ok, it's only the beginning but the idea that 3 children, a baby and a unidentified glowing thing stopped an imminent war does talk a lot about what both sides reunited can do).

We can also see Janai changing (I wonder if she got "linked" to Amaya the way u/the_mad_ talked about in his theory about love-magic). She first wanted to kill her enemy, and she ended saving her, fighting with her (and maybe slowly falling in love with her, but that's another story)

Side note to complete this part: what's happening to humans, while separated from Xadians? Look at how humans live in their side of the border. The five kingdoms came to an alliance, but the  land is mostly deprived of primal magic, probably because there's almost no elves or dragon. it's slowly dying, physically-materially speaking. (remember that famine who would have killed hundred of thousand people 9 years ago)

Conclusion for this part :

1.     Xadians need humans to be linked, they need "love" to be and work together and not being separated from each other. Just like Humans needs Xadians to "live".

2.     Xadians and humans are currently separated from each other, and they both lost something, they're both missing something. And for them all to be complete, for them to live, they need to be together.

6th part : if Xadians have primal magic and humans love-magic, why can Callum use primal magic? Could a Xadian use Love-magic?

I've stated that Magic is life. If magic is life, then it's in everything that's alive. Which mean, everyone, Xadians and humans, have everything in them. Humans and Xadians have both love-magic and primal magic in them.

But just like Xadians are naturally born with a connection to a primal source, humans have a natural one on the 7th: love.

From this, it seems logical that a human can reach an arcanum, since it's in him too. It's just... dormant, passive. If he wants to reach this other side, he needs to forge a connection.

And so, the opposite could totally be true, a Xadian could forge a connection to love-magic.

Okay, but how does it works? Why didn't this happened earlier?

Once again, I think it's related to what I said: both sides need to work together, to learn by proximity from each other. A true relationship. Callum first started to learn about Xadians by being close to Rayla and Zym. He trusts them, loves them. I don't know everything that's necessary to reach an arcanum as a human, but I think this close proximity, this trust in the other side, incarnate in Zym and Rayla, count.

And so? Can a Xadian use love-magic?

Logically, yes, and I think we have already an example : Zym

Zym who was born amongst humans and elves. Zym who's connected to an arcanum by birth, and to love by Ezran.

It's only my HC here, once again, but the bond they're sharing is too deep to be just from Ezran. I mean, Zym can literally reach Ezran when he's afraid, the boy can see through his eyes. I think Ezran and him are so profundly connected not only because Ezran linked himself to the dragonling, but also because Zym connected himself to him because he learned that "love-magic" by being with them.

The other proof (well, once again it’s HC^^’) to that, is that Zym seems to have litterally used life-magic on his mother. (remember life-magic = love + primal magic - remember how his lightning were different when he used them on his mother than when he attacked Viren, and all) And I still have that HC that she wake up in the end because he used it.

Anyway!

What about the moonfam? (take this part as some kind of side note? It’s still incomplete and full of imprecise HC. I'm wating for S4 to see more of them)

Well, that point is tricky. The moonfam is Xadian but has "love" as a really, reeeaaaally strong thema.

- it has been officially stated than Runaan loves Rayla deeply. After some researches, we can find several interesting things about him to realise how "love" is indeed a strong thing here. Like the fact he never planned to kill Rayla (post from the lead-writer at wonderstorm), or his thoughts described in HBMP ep5 (here’s some excerpts:

" [...] And I think those are the types of things that he’s still stewing on. Like, did he overstep? Was he so eager to give her the opportunity to prove herself that he ultimately put her in a position where she could not succeed? [...] I think he took her off the mission both because he very, very much wanted to give himself and the others a chance to complete the mission, even if it meant their deaths, but it also meant that Rayla had the chance to survive. Even if it was potentially going to be misinterpreted and she’d get slapped with the Ghosting. I think he believed that her alive was better than everybody being dead. And I think he feels guilty. [...] Again, a lot of time to potentially stew on and reflect on, is that he does feel like he put her in a position that was not fully taking into account the type of person she was, and more projecting onto her the type of person he wanted her to be, and the gift he wanted to give her, of redeeming herself in the eyes of her people for her parents. And I think he’s gonna have to work through that. Poor dude"

We can also add the feelings he shows, in the novel, toward who I totally assume being Tiadrin and Lain when he saw their coins. He loves them, he still loves them even with, until now, he thought they had betrayed them (which means, for me, that his insult to Rayla in the novel, about her parents, is really an attempt to make her leave instead or staying and being killled _ pure HC again, could be wrong...

PS. thanks again @beautifulterriblequeen and @kotikala for this point :))

Ethari lost Runaan and made a mistake, but in the end he chose Rayla by (HC again, here) breaking the rules and talk to her, to understand what happened. He told her he loves her at the end of S3ep3. Him, giving her that moon opal while telling her what he said to Runaan, means the same for her "my love will be with you even when the moon is not", meaning "I still love you no matter what".

Lain and Tiadrin (thanks again for this HC @beautifulterriblequeen) know what it is to love a child, because they have Rayla. That's also why they stayed to protect Zym, not just because of their oath.

And don't make me start about Rayla and love, about how she loves Ezran, Callum and Zym, so much that she can sacrifice herself to protect the wee cutie ^^

(well, Idk if describing all of this about Runaan is as necessary on Tumblr than it can be on Reddit...)

But once again, is this magical-love or is it just a strong, normal love?

I’m still not sure of the answer. I would say it is probably "normal" (strong, but normal). But it could evolve to "love-magic" at some point, maybe even "life magic".

I guess (a huge, vague guess), that to reach "the other side" (primal magic for a human, or love-magic for a Xadian), you need to have some proximity with someone from the other side and what I would call... predisposition? Callum had definitely an affinity with primal magic from the very beginning (if not "predisposition", maybe "destiny" will fit, then? For this part, I really don't know, as I said, it's pure guess.)

But if predisposition is required, then the moonfam could totally fit to reach "love-magic" and maybe "life-magic", since there is such strong love between each of them.

And, who know (once again it’s a huuuge guess), maybe those who are related to the moon have some kind of natural predisposition?

I think this way because of my current (still have to work on this point) interpretation of the moon arcanum. We do know they’re love-related. We can see it here, in Callum’s Spellsbook:

My HC here is that “love-magic” is partly about linking, connection. And the moon arcanum, in his duality, is also about the connection between life and death, between living beings and dead ones. So, yeah, maybe they do have a predisposition...

But how would they reach that “love-magic” exactly? I dunno. Maybe Viren will capture Rayla and taunt her with the coins and they will free themselves from it, out of love for her because she's the most precious life for all her parents? (I still have that theory where Harrow will talk to Runaan in the coin to make him evolve the way he did while facing his last days)

Or maybe it will be Callum who will free them, don't know how, out of love for Rayla? Or Lain and Tiadrin would be some kind of "genius" who doesn't needs humans to reach the “love arcanum”, because they love Rayla so much, and they have the mind of a protector, and they were ready to die to protect Zym... that would fit with the "reward-theory" and "destiny"... arf! another aspect I have to study here. I really don't know. We'll see this in S4, I hope.

Anyway, that's it for the moonfam!

Now! We've established what love-magic could be and where it stands in the magical system. How it works.

But what about dark magic?

Last part: Dark magic in the magical system.

u/the_mad_, in his theory I mentionned, advanced the idea that dark magic is a perverted version of love magic.

He thinks so because these "magical moments" he mentionned, when people are magically "linked", are described in a similar way than using dark magic, which add a point to his thought about dark-magic being love-magic but corrupted.

I mostly agreed with him, but I would push his theory even further (I thought about this during the night, in fact, and I couldn't sleep and then... "ting"!):

the effects of dark magic, using it is described in a similar way that "love-magic", when a connection is made between two beings.

dark magic also uses primal magic.

I’m still hesitating about that interpretation, however. She’s pretty solid, but I’m bothered by a point: something similar to love-magic AND using primal magic? that does sound a little like what I call “life-magic”, no? So what if more than being a corrupted version of Love-magic, dark magic is a corrupted version of life-magic?

A corrupted version who gives a mimic of life magic but in the end, desecrate it. Dark magic means stealing, killing. It's death. And it's not normal death, as a part of the life-death cycle. It's something else. That could explain why Callum feels it's so "wrong". He values life, he's a lot about love.

The dream he made about dark magic is really interesting, too. Somehow, that evil version of him lied to him. (I still save a room for the idea that it wasn't him but something else disguised as him,) telling him he can't do magic, that dark magic is the only way. If you think about it, the message given by that... thing, is : "you love them, you want to protect them, you want them to live, then use dark magic because it's the only way for you".

But dark magic is a corrupted version of life, it's literally "death".

Okay, but you'll tell me that Viren and Claudia used it to save someone who was dead. Yep, but to do it they killed someone else (for Viren it's a theory a lot of us belive). I'm pretty sure "life-magic" doesn't work this way. Callum didn't kill anyone when he broke the primal stone to save Zym and then, at some point, we saw "life magic" (it's in the post I linked in the beginning). I mean, Zym was dead. The egg was black. But he came back to life.

Zubeia was dying too, but it seems, once again if I'm right, that Zym saved her with life magic. He didn't kill anyone.

I said once ("epiphany on the moon arcanum", if I remember...) Darkness is an emptiness of light, death, an emptiness of life.

So, why not? How do you kill death? with life....

An additional thought about Dark magic :

Once again, thanks to The_mad_ on Reddit, we got an interesting analysis: he noted that the seven sources are similar to the creation, in the story of Genesis. God created the world in six days:

“The only one that isn't directly mentioned is the stars. On the first day God separated day from night. (This presumably gave the stars.) On the second day God created the sky. On the third God separated the earth from the ocean. On the fourth day God created the Sun and the Moon. There is no primal source (that we know of ;) ) for the 5th day when the sea monsters were created. But then on the 6th day God created humans and gave them dominion over all of the creatures of the earth (i.e. Dark magic). On the seventh day God rested. »

So I pushed the analysis further:

On the 5th and especially 6th day God created living beings, especially humans. And when you put all of his creation together, all the days, it's "life" (Just earease one of these elements and there wouldn't be life anymore _ok, human's place in the world's ecosystem could be discussed but that’s not the topic... so let's say humans are the soul, the spirit, and the world the body... or something.)

Much later after God finished his creation, a shadow, the devil, came and infiltrate the world to make humans "fall". (Now that I'm pointing that out, it's pretty much the same in LOTR, no?... anyway). He made them fall with lies.

So now, let's suppose that these theories about a "love-magic" and a "life-magic" are accurate and that parallel between genesis and TDP’s magical system has a solid ground, that maybe "love" is indeed a source in itself, like the others (In genesis, it would correspond to the 6th day, when God created humans).

Now, I wonder. If it's this way, if the parallel between Genesis and TDP's seven sources is that strong, then, could "dark-magic" be "the shadow" who made humans fall?

I think it could be this way for two reasons:

1st. dark magic appeared, it seems, at the very least 2000 years ago with the rise of Elarion (maybe earlier, but probably not 5000 years ago, during the era of the first elves), just like the devil in Genesis did (I mean, about the fact he came later, not at the begining).

2nd, we saw the... dark-mage-Callum, that sort of... evil avatar of him, in his dream, literally lying to Callum himself about humans not able to do primal magic. (that, if it wasn't just his own belief impersonated. We still don't know yet).

And so, Dark Magic, being a person or a "thing", a concept, I don't know, would really be something else, something corrupted who perverted and disturbed the world.

Okay, this post is the last one, it’s finally over!! Thank you for those who had the courage to read it until the end!!! I hope I didn’t bothered you too much ^^

It was a little difficult to put all in one thing (all of this are in fact several post on Reddit) so I hope the continuity is coherent. I’m working on this since ... ARGH! 5 hours? Okay, I’m gonna eat something.

I hope you had fun to read this :D

Now, to the kitchen! I’m Hungry!

edit: I forgot to tag @beautifulterriblequeen​ and @kotikala​: what do you think of this? 

External POV are awlays welcomed (but don’t feel obligated to read it, I know it’s pretty long... wait, if I tag and this message is in the end... will you see it right away?)

[heroesandmasterminds]

Aaravos and the Orphan Queen

This is my theory on Aaravos' past and also the founding of Katolis - I suspect Aaravos and the Orphan Queen, the first ruler of Katolis, were actually in love those centuries ago.

Most of Xadia's inhabitants treated humans badly because they viewed them as 'lesser beings' as Sol Regem said, so Aaravos, tired of how his love was being treated, gave humans Dark Magic as a way to fend for themselves. That included giving the Dark Mage Ziard the staff that would one day become Viren's.

Then the encounter between Ziard and Sol Regem happens, humans are banished to the west, Aaravos is furious and heartbroken and then his involvement comes out. The newly crowned Dragon King Avizandum puts him in a prison and there he stays for the next few centuries.

But on his lover's side? If they truly did love each other and trusted each other, then it stands to reason that whatever the Key of Aaravos does, he gave it to her when humans were banished maybe as a form of protection, or he told her to try and return to Xadia and use it (Harrow did say it 'unlocks something of great power in Xadia') and she never managed anything of the sort in her lifetime, but she passed it down to her descendants. She probably told them what it meant as well but that part was lost over the centuries. Maybe it's called the Key of Aaravos because it's the key to freeing him, only she never figured out how to make it work because he didn't get a chance to tell her.

So Callum having it now, and likely becoming the first person since Aaravos to master all the primal sources, could possibly also mean he discovers the long-buried secrets of the Orphan Queen.

On top of that, if Aaravos and the Orphan Queen were romantically involved they would be an excellent foil for Rayllum, especially if something happens (temporarily of course!!) to Rayla which opens up an opportunity for Callum to parallel Aaravos further, the way he did with Viren (check out @raayllum 's numerous brilliant metas to read more about that) in how they react to losing the love of their life or how they deal with the racial prejudice. If they play it right and parallel these two with Rayllum, showing how such a romance can end in disaster in a world that's divided by prejudice but rise above dissenters in a world that's healing with these two leading the way, it will be absolutely amazing. On top of that, I'd be overjoyed to see Rayllum being determined not to let history repeat itself, not to let that happen to them too.

Something Aaravos said in S2 E9 stuck out to me as funny in terms of typical villain speeches. He said, 'Those who fail tests of love are simple animals. They deserve to be motivated by fear.' In other words, he'll try the love route first, and if they don't agree he turns to fear because people who don't understand love aren't worth any kindness or mercy. That particularly emerged clearly for me in the words 'simple animals'.

Aaravos seems to view love as something special, something higher, something that, although people should understand it, they often don't. Could this be because of the way he and his love (especially her, I'd guess, as a human, compared to Aaravos being an elven mage who wielded all six primal sources) were treated by prejudiced people who didn't understand? Centuries in a prison with nobody to talk to would certainly give anyone time to think about their past and become bitter about it.

While this is all still fairly wild speculation, I hope I've hit on something at least mildly accurate and I can't wait for these secrets to be uncovered over the next few seasons!

[beautifulterriblequeen]

How I did it, by Lord Viren

You know when you vaguely wonder about a thing, and you get some more pieces around its edges, but you don’t quite put them together, until one morning you ask yourself a very specific question for 2 seconds and you realize you have an answer? I ended up with two questions this morning, back to back, and realized they fit together.

“How do you kill a dragon that can teleport?”

“How did Viren smuggle that egg back to Xadia and get everyone to believe it was destroyed?”

You kill a dragon that can teleport by luring it to a specific spot. You threaten something it will always protect. But you have to distract it first, so it doesn’t show up until you’re ready.

Step 1: distract the dragon elsewhere with a massive invasion force.

Step 2: ride with your vengeful friend to the king’s lair with a weapon that is crafted specifically to kill him (whether Viren is on this horse or on another horse, he had to be there)

(and, quick aside, you know how one of the ingredients for this spear spell is the jar of purple fireflies with that tracking spell we watched Claudia make? I think the “one missing piece” from the flashback scene where Sarai dies is Viren finding a tiny piece of Avizandum--a scale or strand of hair--like Claudia used Rayla’s braid.)

Step 3: threaten the egg of the Dragon Prince to lure Avizandum to an exact spot

Step 4: kill him the moment he teleports in

Now, as we know, there are difficulties with step 3, but I think Viren planned for those in a way we’ve already seen.

Ready?

These bad boys, these coins, why are there so many?

Remember the question I asked myself: “How did Viren smuggle that egg back to Xadia and get everyone to believe it was destroyed?”

I think Viren created these coin prisons--coin purses in an absolutely inside-out genius idea--to not only get rid of the egg’s guards, but to smuggle the egg back to Xadia with Harrow none the wiser!

Viren and Harrow might have briefly split up within the Dragon King’s lair, but perhaps Viren just lied and told Harrow that the coins would destroy anything he trapped in them. Harrow could stand right there and watch anyone get sucked into those coins, and he could believe that they were dead. I mean, Tinker’s lotus does

If this is true, this means two very important things.

1. Rayla’s parents didn’t run away, they’re in two of those coins. And Runaan knows it. Even if he had no idea what happened at Avizandum’s lair on Winter’s Turn, he’s figured it out now.

2. The egg was in that third coin, and Viren released it unharmed. Which means that Runaan, and hopefully Rayla’s parents, can also be released unharmed, even after this long. Viren’s desire to keep the egg of the Dragon Prince alive during transport is what’s gonna save Runaan and also Rayla’s parents.

[t-n-c]

tdp confusion below the cut 

I never understood the theory that Avizandum attacked Sarai and co because of what they did to the magma titan/because he wanted to stop them from using its heart for dark magic. I feel that if that he cared at all about that he would have gone after Harrow and the soldiers fleeing with the heart, not waste his time fighting with the queens and Viren. So either he:

1. Didn’t see the heart (I doubt that though--if he could spot the tiny figures of Viren and Harrow from the very top of the Storm-spire when they came for him he should have been able to see the huge, glowing rock been carried off a few miles away from where he was)

or 

2. He didn’t care about the heart or what the humans were planning to do with it. 

Either way you slice it, it seems his attack on Sarai and co was less due to what they’d done and more about the fact that they were A) humans and B) in Xadia. 

[ladyandherbooks]

Aaravos, his mirror censorship and important elven folk part 2

(Because I can only have 10 images per post)

@beautifulterriblequeen

We even see the mirror out in the open when Viren enters the chamber.

To me this means that they too have no idea about Aaravos, who he is, what he did and how powerful and dangerous he is. The Dragon Guard, arguably the most important elves in Xadia, the ones charged with protecting the dragon royal family know nothing of the greatest threat to their home, their peope and the family they have sworn to protect.

So this brings me to Runaan and why he of all the elves knows something about Aaravos. Why is it that he knows more than a queen or an elite group of royal body guards? At first I had 2 theories:

1) That Runaan read the elven writing around the mirror's frame. However, given the Dragon Guard's ignorance I doubt that this is the case. Whatever is written there is not a dead giveaway as to what this mirror's true purpose is.

2) He read about it in one of Ethari's books. This is highly unlikely due to the censorship surrounding Aaravos' imprisonment and I doubt that the few who do know (Zubeia, Sol Regem, Luna Tenebris, the Startouch elves perhaps) would want any information about said mirror being made public, especially since this mirror is probably one of a kind.

So how does Runaan know? My guess is a massive gamble and/or act of defiance made by one of his ancestors. During the time of Aaravos' imprisonment and the following continent wide censorship one of Runaan's direct ancestors took steps to ensure that they could pass down whatever information they could to their descendants to ensure that any information they had about the Arch mage Aaravos wouldn't be forgotten and lost to the sands of time.

Are any of these Moonshadow elves Runaan's ancestor? I'm guessing one of them is. Also, I know that this Moonshadow elf lady was alive during the human's exile to the west but if she isn't an ancestor of at least one of our Moonshadow elves then I'll be very surprised.

Perhaps, being a Moonshadow elf, they decided to use some sort of illusion to conceal and protect the knowledge that they had, hiding it from those seeking to erase it. This surviving knowledge was then passed down through Runaan's family, unneeded until Runaan's imprisonment in season 1.

Unlike all the other elves we see that Runaan knows something and that this knowledge terrifies and shocks him. We see him take a few moments to examine the mirror and then when he realises what it is his deameanor temporarily changes. He knows how dangerous this is and refuses to help Viren.

This knowledge is also vital to the show's future storylines as he is the only one who can alert everyone to Viren's plans. Once Runaan is freed he's going to tell someone, most likely Zubeia or his best friends about the mirror and Viren's interest in it. This revelation that is going to bring to light the censorship that Avizandum ordered and that Zubeia, Sol Regem and deliberately kept them in the dark about the greatest threat to their home in centuries and just how truly unprepared they all are for Aaravos' oncoming assault.

A rift between elves and dragons is coming to Xadia. More untold death and destruction than anyone could ever imagine. All because of the censorship and secrecy surrounding Aaravos and his mirror.