wizardnachoakiyu

[wizardnachoakiyu]

Something I noticed about how people talk about Callum and Rayla's mistakes is that they rarely give Rayla any agency for what she does.

When she does something wrong, it's because of her trauma. Or because it's her cultural upbringing. It's very rarely her fault, it's because of something external that happened to her. That's why she makes mistakes, you see. It's because other people failed her.

Yet when people talk about Callum's mistakes, his trauma and his upbringing is never brought up. Callum will go to extreme lengths to protect Ezran and Rayla, could that possibly be because he lost most of the people he loved at a very young age? Or he seems to be pushing himself too far to master magic, could that possibly be because his upbringing as a prince put pressure at him to master something?

Apparently not. His mistakes are just because of who he is, not because of what happened to him. He's a Snake Boi, you see.

Some of this comes down to people being irrational towards Dark Magic, but a lot of it just comes down to favoritism.

[wizardnachoakiyu]

It's funny how the exact same people who call Callum Morally Dubious(tm) for every single thing he does will then fume with rage at people suggesting Rayla maybe did a Bad Thing there.

inspo lmao

(Reddit was easier to characterize but this goes for some part of tumblr, instagram and youtube as well)

[wizardnachoakiyu]

Ok, so here is what I think:

What will Rayla do? Definitely help Callum free her parents, maybe be forced in a situation where removing the blanket over the pearl (i.e. let Aaravos take control of Callum) seems like the lesser of two evils, and she'll make a difficult choice.

What will Callum do? Free Rayla's parents, discover how to use the Corona and the Nova Blade, and learn Deep Magic. In short, we're about to see Callum get an upgrade 😎

Is Viren dead? Yea...kinda? I think he's no longer alive, but I also think his spirit is somehow tethered to this world. What Rayla saw in TTM seemed to suggest he was somehow between life and death even before he was resurrected, and there's no reason to think that's changed. It's possible he'll come back as a ghost.

If something happens to Rayla, Callum will go crazy. Oh yes.

If something happens to Callum, Rayla will go crazy. Rayla is already going crazy day by day. Oh definitely yes. I think fans have underestimated how dark and dubious Rayla can get and we'll probably see that in the next few seasons.

Will Runaan come back? Yes, along with Tiadrin and Lain, but I also suspect that he might "redeem" himself by making a sacrificial play in s7 or something.

If so, how will his relationship with Ezran be? After all, he was the one who killed his father. Oh yea, Runaan seems to be the one person that Ezran has trouble forgiving or keeping his anger in check around. I think we'll definitely see Ez get tested in this way.

Let's get into it, what will happen now, what will Rayla do, what will Callum do? What is its purpose?So is Viren dead If something happens to Rayla, Callum will go crazy. If something happens to Callum, Rayla will go crazy. Rayla is already going crazy day by day.Will Runaan come back? If so, how will his relationship with Ezran be? After all, he was the one who killed his father.

[wizardnachoakiyu]

I’ve noticed that, while people tend to hold mages to a high moral standard when it comes to dark magic, they tend to give a pass to many of the non-mages who help facilitate dark magic. Mages who directly use it often face harsh moral judgments. Yet non-mages who enable or benefit from dark magic rarely do,

It really speaks to the insidious nature of dark magic that so many people, even those with a strong sense of right and wrong, still find reasons for using or justifying a practice they otherwise disapprove of. But that doesn’t mean we should ignore people’s choices simply because they don’t directly use dark magic.

For instance, Sarai presents ethical arguments against going after the Titan, and argues that real change can’t be solved with a single spell, and that this is a slippery slope. Yet she quickly relegates these as a "disagreement" to support her husband. She even plays a critical role in actually defeating the Titan so they can take its heart. Her loyalty outweighs her morality.

Rayla shows even more disgust towards dark magic, but is also willing to make exceptions, first by being willing to look past Callum using it.

And then later she actively facilitates the dark magic ingredients trade just to get a lead on Viren in the short story. It’s not just loyalty to Callum, but expediency that lets her justify dark magic (making her strikingly similar to Viren in this regard).

And yet only Callum is widely seen as doing something immoral here, not Sarai and Rayla. But of the three, Callum alone acknowledges the full ethical implications of using dark magic. He doesn't obscure his inner conflicts. He doesn’t downplay it (like Sarai) or ignore it (like Rayla). His desire to protect his loved ones win out over moral principles, just like it did with his mother and Rayla, but he clearly feels shame and guilt for it.

This tells me that it is too simplistic to condemn only the mages who directly cast spells, when non-mages play critical enabling roles. It also tells me that key standard is whether one transparently addresses their own moral contradictions (like Callum) rather than rationalizing them away (like Sarai or Rayla).