#tdp reflections

[dailytdp]

Xadia Flora/Fauna

Star Plums

These violet fruits are native to the Moonshadow Forest and get their name from the star shaped stems at the bottom of the fruit.

Known Habitats: Moonshadow Forest

[its-leethee]

Lucia the first elves and archdragons, who designed and built the camp cosmic order, is angry and scared that the spark human's use of primal magic is going to spread through the camp and endanger everyone--

It happened long ago, when humans had only just learned to hold fire in their hands without burning. They nurtured their precious primal flames secretly—in the dark of night, beneath shadows and shrouds—as cultivating its glow drew the eyes and ire of monsters. Eventually, for the audacity of their fire, they were hunted, and—though they looked to the stars for salvation—the stars, too, looked down upon them with disdain. Humanity had been given something it was never meant to have. And so there came a calamity.

--Ripples

I've been thinking about why the stars and the Cosmic Order would turn their backs on and refuse to watch over Xadia. If they could see the future - why is there nothing they're willing or able to do to stop it?

But if the human's unchecked use of magic would attract the attention of a certain type of monsters -

Speculation that Aaravos was hoping to attract a star devourer dragon to destroy Xadia is an idea that's been bouncing around the fandom for a while.

And this would explain why the other Startouch elves on the Cosmic Council would stay out of the way; why they would turn their backs and avert their eyes; why they wouldn't want to look past a certain point via their timeblind powers either.

"...the beginning of the end. The long slow spiral to chaos." They won't look past the cosmic-prophecy-event-horizon because there's a star devourer dragon sitting just beyond.

They're afraid of being driven mad.

"...I can feel my very being shattering from the inside out!"

Aaravos gleefully goading the humans on; taunting the Cosmic Council, "are you watching?"

I have not seen the stars in centuries. But when I see them again—when the stars are forced to look upon me, their dark brother—they will know how I have waited. And when everything they have built lies shattered, I will savor their fall from the sky.

--Patience

In lieu of a conclusion paragraph I'm gonna leave y'all with a piece of my terrible humor:

--2x01 foreshadowing???? i love this show so much

[lunanightriderofthecove]

Remember this picture from the Reflection "Ripples"?:

I looked at it this morning and was like: what if that shooting star is Leola?

And then I checked out the surrounding text and ...

😭

[bat-snake]

Boy does that first paragraph keep blurring between the literal and metaphorical.

The "LAND had been dealt a great wound and bled for a hundred years", which makes me wonder about my Aaravos Storm theory

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Wait you wrote some of the Dragon Prince's Reflections short stories? That's awesome, congratulations! What was that like and how much lore did the showrunners give you access to, or were you allowed to make your own additions to canon? 😃 Which ones did you work on if I can ask? Thanks!

Oop, this question came in while I was answering another one! I just went over which Reflections stories were my work here! tldr, most of the first volume and one in the second volume.

I worked with Devon on ideas to pitch, and then on crafting and polishing the ones that got approval. I only needed to know a little bit of lore from upcoming seasons in order to write the stories, but with the timeskip between S3 and S4, I necessarily had to know a few things, like "so it's been two years."

I did get a couple of references to look at, such as the design of the soul candle for "The Queen's Soul," since that was an asset they'd already created for the show. And I did get to watch an early version of the first episode of S4, for character/design/location/etc reasons. A picture is worth 1000 words, etc. But most of my stories were just little bubbles stuck on the side of the main plot bubble - as the Reflections series was originally pitched to be! It's full of treats and foreshadowy lil clues, but in the end it's just fun supplemental material for the extra nerdy to indulge in! So there was some freedom in pitching and writing, as long as it held to theme, and we had a lot of fun bringing these little moments to life.

Crackledrake is my favorite short story because I got to add the cute little ritual to Sunfire canon and created the lore behind it. It's inspired by the real-world tradition of snapdragon, so you can see I was super inventive with its TDP name there! I gave Janai and Amaya their own Xadian fruits and nuts, though, as they deserve. I can't say I did so with a straight face, though. My face was extremely gay about it, actually.

Rise Again was another of my pitches that got accepted, and writing it really helped me connect with Claudia in a way I hadn't before. I've felt differently about her ever since, and that wouldn't've happened if I hadn't gotten to spend time with her and give her Burnt Biscuit.

I think Changing of the Guard was already in the pitch lineup, but I was really excited to get to write for Soren and Corvus. I always enjoy when opposite personalities try to come together! I tried my best to add some angst into Corvus' backstory, but I had to trim it for length so he remains mysterious. But King Ezran's Belly Full of Jelly tart-eating contest is a thing I've put into the world, and I'm genuinely pleased with that. And then there's all the *waves Sorvus flag*. I just think they're neat! (and you're welcome)

[obi-wan-catobi]

Look at them

[sagegreenfrogs]

Have you read “The Changing Guard” by Kris James, shown in the The Dragon Prince website

Soren being the one to propose to Corvus to join the Crownguards is such a nice detail. They really chose to be woven into each other’s lives

yep! I remember the first time I read it and I FREAKED OUT lol

I think that story is the first point at which it's really recognizable that sorvus has potential to be canon

[tylerdashart]

something something red scarf :"D

Devon knows exactly how to play with our poor hearts its fucking insane 😭 but either way 7 DAYS MORE!!!! 👀 - - - 🚫Do not repost/trace/use for AI🚫

[hazieash]

It’s not my fault TDP keeps making hot characters. Here’s Finnegrin

[goldenwing57]

12 Days of TDP

Day 4: Favorite Extra Content

Yeah, I think I'd say it's "Ripples." To be real, both of Aaravos's short stories are amazing. The style is completely different from all of the others. It feels like I'm a little kid sitting at an old storyteller's feet, listening with awe.

I wonder, if we asked really really nicely, do you think Erik would record himself reading it? I'd listen to that on endless repeat.

[self-spaghettification]

the RIPPLES

Aaravos at the bottom! ^

[dailytdp]

Chasing Shadows pt. 1

Written by Devon Giehl Illustrated by Caleb Thomas and Emily Marzonie

[its-leethee]

4x07 // 7x04

Devastating parallel, yes; but I want to elaborate on that conversation in 4x07 between Claudia and Terry, because it exposes Claudia's fundamental misunderstanding of the nature of healthy loving relationships.

Claudia sees the plants moving because of Terry's magic, and the conclusion she jumps to is that he's controlling them. Given the coercive nature of dark magic, I'm not surprised that Claudia would think that. Terry corrects her misconception, explaining: "I have a very good relationship with plants. When I need something, I can depend on them."

It's a core theme of the show, love and trust; stronger together; we need each other.

Love and trust build a kind of strength that is much bigger than we each possess. To have that kind of strength, it's not enough to love someone. You have to trust them to share the burdens you carry.

This kind of reliance is something that Claudia struggles with, because when has Claudia ever been able to depend on others to respond to her needs?** Claudia knows, despite how desperately she needs someone, no matter how deeply she loves them, it doesn't mean they'll stay with her. It's a cruel truth that she learned when she was very young:

Biscuit had been the oldest of Barius’ collection of strays, all of them named after things in his kitchen, and Claudia’s favorite. It wasn’t fair that she’d died. She hadn’t even been that old. All her kittens still needed her, didn’t they?

For Claudia, love means never leaving. She doesn't can't won't trust that people who leave will come back to her, because she's been betrayed too many times before:

“Aaravos left me too, huh? Like dad and Soren, and my mo—" Claudia’s throat closed around the word. Lissa had left her years ago, but the space she had owned in Claudia’s heart remained. It was a dark place now, hard and hateful, its edges raw as a wound that had forgotten to heal.

She'll accept other's trust in her, but she won't reciprocate on it. She uses trust as a tool for control. Just like Aaravos. Just like dark magic.

And that's why her relationship with Terry failed the way it did.

Claudia used Terry's trust. To protect him? No. To control him. To protect herself.

Deep down, she's afraid that there's something wrong with her, that she keeps failing to keep the people she loves in her life because they can see--

I've been messing things up, and everyone's been angry with me. What if they're right? What if I'm... not good?

Would allowing herself to share this vulnerability have kept every one of her loved ones in her life? No, of course not; but in the end, love alone wasn't strong enough to keep him by her side.

**What about Aaravos? shhh This isn't about him--

--4x07 // 7x04 // 5x04 // Rise Again // 2x02 // Lost Child // 6x01 // Puzzle House // 3x07 // 6x08 // 7x01 // 7x09

[zuppizup]

Can't believe TDPO gave us not one (Dear Callum), but two, (Chasing Shadows) "Rayla Alone" introspectives.

Winning in the most painful ways 🥹

[bat-snake]

I want to write a fic in the style of Patience and Ripples that's just Aaravos writing vaguely about life with Leola and clearly Not Doing Well™️.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

I'm curious, which short stories did you write/work on? I've been meaning to reread some of them and it'll be more fun knowing another member of the fandom was involved in certain ones :)

Aw yay! I like rereading them, too!

In the first volume of Reflections, Devon wrote "Patience" to start everything off with Aaravos (and his short stories are going to be super interesting on reread now that we've finished arc 2!), and Michal wrote "Dear Callum." Their experience working with canon (and at-the-time future canon) helped them craft those stories much better than I could've written. The other six stories are my work.

In the lead-up to S5, I got tapped to write "All Storms End" as a longer story than those from the previous batch. Writing that one was very special to me, and it made the ending we got in S7 extremely hurty!

Thanks for asking! I had so much fun writing those stories and working with Wonderstorm, and Devon specifically. It's been a genuine highlight in my life.