#aaravos is everything

[lonykoi]

their designs might be my favourite (after aaravos' ofc)

[thrandilf]

Why did he have to say it Like That

—anyone who's ever spoken to Aaravos

[tategaminu]

When you steal your boyfriend's key, enter his study without permission and rob the weapon that killed his step-dad:

ah eto... bleh!

Happy birthday Rayla! I love you and your girlfailure moments!

[self-spaghettification]

the black part on aaravos’s chest is suspiciously shaped like a certain sword

the more i look at it

the more i hmmmm

and the nova-blade is a double edged sword (albeit tapered)

btw, I also recently accidentally cut myself, so I was researching which open wounds need stitches and which don’t. It looks like how a deep open wound does—if it were a black void

images of wounds under the cut

fyi open wounds don’t heal correctly without stitches so this is very likely the physical or magical manifestation of the scar after—

“White as the star's heart it pierced, ivory draconic brought death's bite known ever forth as Novablade..

and though undying, took last breath, immortal Laurelion was no more”

if not the open wound itself, eternally unable to heal

take that as you will :)

[raayllum]

So Aaravos' parallels to Rayla is being a banished elf separated from her family; for Callum, it's being a mage who went too far likely out of desperation to save loved ones; and for Ezran, it's an inability to ultimately let go and relinquish your anger and hatred towards the people who have taken them from you.

[kradogsrats]

okay

OKAY

so Lujanne stated that the Moonhenge, the Moon Nexus equivalent of the Sunforge was destroyed to prevent it from falling into human hands after Xadia was split, right? But WHAT IF it was actually because Aaravos attempted to corrupt/consume it the way he does the Sunforge, and it was him they had to protect it from?

If this was truly when Xadia was split, he would have to not have gotten caught in order to keep up his charade for another 700 years... but pretty much everything else Lujanne said has been false, so what if it was later? What if that's what killed Luna Tenebris, or where she was killed? What if the Orphan Queen became involved because the Moon Nexus is literally in what was by then Katolis?

[0multifandomweirdo0]

I'm not sure if Rayla will ever feel like part of her family again after she gets her parents and Runaan out of the coins. She still loves them, but it was also a long time. She has been through a series of traumas and carries the consequences with her. Her parents are still the ones who abandoned her when she was little. Runaan basically disowned her in a way the moment she chose the option of peace over the mission. And Ethari? He ghosted her even though she was all he had left.

She was alone for so long.

Yeah, her family will never feel the same

[1lovepeace]

There were so many amazing moments and scenes, as well as the relationships/dynamics we got to see developed more, that I really loved, admired and appreciated in S4. But one that I absolutely loved was seeing Soren and Rayla's newfound friendship. It was absolutely beautiful and heartwarming to see. Their dynamic is like brother/sister. It's amazing, beautiful and heartwarming to see:

[elvesdragonsanddarkmagic]

Back From Work pt 2 (featuring the new guy)

pt 1

[aquanutart]

an upside-down truth / a fallen star

[parroset]

Merry Christmas! Here are the last of my Christmas Drawings:

Look, it's the elf on the shelf!

He looks a bit cuter than I remember lol

Here's Aaravos sitting under the tree with all the other gifts:

There's a bunch of funny little details with the presents, lmk if you notice any! It WILL make my day lol

And of course, my two Little Guys with their matching sweaters:

The Merciful One is having a great time being on the nice list. Aaravos is just glad that they're celebrating with him ✨

Hope you all have a wonderful holiday!

[magicandmundane]

JUST NOTICED THAT TERRY WAS FREAKING HUMMING THE “Mystery of Aaravos” THEME IN 5x03 “Nightmares and Revelations”

I AM SCREAMING

[an-actual-attack-helicopter]

I HAD TO MAKE THE PUN IM SORRY IM JUST SLEEP DEPRIVED

in that fancy font tho I’m dying XD

This was my first real project on procreate. New programs are hard. But it was fun.

[sarasade]

Play with me, little human.

[self-spaghettification]

no bc why did they have to be like that.

im sorry but if you don’t see the homosexual tension or at least METAPHOR between these two for the entire fucking show you are literally blind or a child

[raayllum]

S4 Trailer Timeline Breakdown

Let’s do this + spoilers for all of episode one from the twitter thread at SDCC.

4x01 is Callum’s birthday and Viren’s revival day. It establishes Callum waiting on a book of rune translations from Lux Aurea, likely to try to decipher more about the mirror. Ezran states that Zubeia and Zym will be arriving in Katolis, and Janai proposes to Amaya. She accepts. Out on the balcony, Callum looks up at the moon and we see that he is still in love with Rayla.

Thus, things that are from 4x01 are as follows:

Any scene with Claudia and Viren in the cave

Ezran’s council meeting

Janai and Amaya looking at each other happily

The failed birthday party

Callum out on the balcony

Then we move into what I’ll call 4x02 territory: 

Phyrrah (red dragon from s2 and s3) as well as Zubeia arriving in Katolis for Ezran’s meeting.

Which doesn’t go especially well, as Ezran makes this speech in the Valley of Graves, likely because 1) it’s big enough to house Zubeia, who’s there, and 2) because it was on her orders that Harrow died, and Ezran is trying to bridge that gap / hurt (since the gift he had made for Zubeia, maybe even by Callum, has seemingly been vandalized) and it’s sunset. This probably isn’t the very next day since it would take time even for a dragon to fly, so it could be up to a week later post-4x01, say.

Also in the early days we see Terry seemingly having braided Claudia’s hair, which she has for the majority of the rest of the trailer / season, even if they seem to be somewhere more metal than Storm Spire-y. I’m guessing they start out in Drakewood and then work their way across.

Also likely in 4x02 is the scene with Amaya with the Sunfire elves, including Janai and her future brother-in-law, Prince Karim.

A human is about to be punished, possibly due to stealing a Sunfire artefact (hence bandages wrapped around burned hands) with Janai supposed to dole out traditional Sunfire punishment. I think given the shot misdirect and Amaya’s worry, Janai will choose to free and spare the human, prompting her brother’s ire and kicking off their political plotline for S4.

On that note, the lack of crowd in the shot below while still having spectators make me think that perhaps Karim has challenged Janai to a one-on-one combat duel for the throne and ‘fate’ of their people. In the far left we see who appears to be Miyana under the mask, part of the Six Horns, who was revealed at SDCC 2021.

Then, post-4x02 we have what seems to be what I’m going to call the Ibis Time Thread, as it / his staff / Callum having his staff is one of the clearest through lines the trailer has. We see him and Claudia squaring off in what seems to be the Storm Spire, as it was the last place Viren’s staff was and that seems to be what they’re fighting over, and Claudia’s hair is braided back.

Then we see Claudia and Ibis having a second encounter in a different space. It may be another part of the same area (just without the gold coins) as a continuation of the first fight, or another encounter entirely. It seems Aaravos has had her wait until now to retrieve her father’s staff, given that her hair is braided and half white in both shots.

This means that Claudia needs Viren’s staff, likely as a component for Aaravos to get out of his mirror. If one of Aaravos’ former gifts / relics can be an important component in freeing him, it seems that can be doubly so for the Cube as the Key of Aaravos. (We’ll circle more back to Aaravos’ bits later.)

Sometime after the fight with Claudia, we see the kids holding what’s clearly a funeral for Ibis, with Callum conducting one of the spells and holding Ibis’ staff.

However, arguably the most important piece of information here (to me) is that Rayla is with the three boys in this shot, and with her little pet creature, Stella, on her shoulder. This means from this point on in the season (likely mid-S4) Rayla has not only reunited with the boys but possibly travelled with them from Katolis to the Storm Spire again.

Here we see Zym at what appears to be the Great Gates (possibly to Rex Igenous’ chambers, the Earth dragon at the very end of the trailer) and in Ez and Zym’s poster, so it seems that while the group is there, it’s mostly centred on the young king and his platonic soulmate.

Possibly in their path to get to Rex Igneous, we see Callum use his scarf to douse the light (maybe light attracts the creatures) which is easier said than done when Bait is a glow toad, and this kicks off the battle there with Callum using lightning to protect his little friend.

We also know that Rayla is with the boys and what appears to be a smaller Earthblood child here, since we can see the three fold of her tunic as well as her hip-thigh pouch that holds Stella as Zym flies up to seemingly call a bit of a lightning storm to protect his friends.

Soren, however, is most notably absent (maybe stuck in another area, like the one with the rocks in his solo shot?). Rayla also has both her blades!

Zubeia getting pissed on her baby’s behalf and when we see those creatures earlier, Callum has Ibis’ staff with him and Ezran. This means either they’re not friendly at first and Zubeia steps in / destroys them, or that she gets them to settle down and the boys manage to have a conversation. Again, we know presumably as soon as Callum gets his staff, any scene where he has that is also one that Rayla will be in (just about). 

Then of course, we have Rayla showing in Katolis with Stella in tow, who quickly grabs the cube and has an affinity with the Star arcanum (given that her name literally means “star,” too) in a perfect parallel of when she and Callum first met. That more than anything makes me think this is real rather than an illusion, but I wonder what’s made Rayla feel safe enough to come back - what proof has she found of Viren’s death after all this time, after all?

Then we have a shot of her outrunning some kind of drake-riding Earthblood elf and with her pouch, but it’s void of Stella. She seems to be purposefully baiting him and trying to create some kind of diversion.

Some very keen eyed people have pointed out that she’ll likely fall after this clip, as one of her hands (her one that used to have the binding, I think) slipped and missed slightly, meaning she’ll dangle and then hoist herself up.

It also makes me wonder, what, exactly, Rayla has found to convince her to come back to Katolis. She’d need irrefutable proof Viren was dead and she could’ve found the empty chrysalis, but she probably would’ve assumed as a result that Viren had simply chosen to leave it. So I’ll be curious as how that gets explained and addressed.

I also think that because she’s seemingly 1) fine and 2) returning of her own accord for their first reunion at least, Callum will be pretty furious with her because he’ll have room to be furious at her. Whether that’ll be in their first scene together or a bit later remains to be seen. 

Finally I want to address the few remaining trailer shots / scenes I haven’t so far, namely: 

An eye i think might belong to Rex Igneous and a wider shot of his hoard that matches where we see Ibis and Claudia initially fighting. It’s also hard to tell in the shot below but it almost looks like maybe it isn’t the trio and/or the two groups are together, with Ezran almost standing by Viren (as he’s the main figure we’ve seen clothed distinctly in all white) even if it’s a bit too blurry to tell entirely.

There are also the shots of Aaravos blowing a kiss at the camera, the aforementioned Callum as a pawn with the cube shot, the shot of Aaravos being displeased, and Callum cradling Rayla’s blades. I wondered if, after the Viren as a pawn clip, if the person as a pawn might change in every episode’s intro in S4. Now I wonder if we’ll get three mini arcs: the first with Viren as the pawn, and then the second and third arcs with Claudia and Callum as the pawn in some kind of order (like the key art, since “everything is going according to plan” for Aaravos). I could also see it changing every episode and then having the final episode intro being Aaravos blowing the kiss with the mirror shattering while he sits calmly (we’ve never seen him sit before) as it felt very winkwink nudgenudge to the audience. 

We know that whatever vexes Aaravos cannot be permanent, since he gets out of the mirror this season 100%. I’m also curious, if Callum and Rayla reunite fairly early on, what Callum is doing dark magic for. I still think he’ll have to build a connection with Aaravos before she comes back, but maybe not, even if the light-dark symbolism we’re getting supports it: Callum is angry, alone, and enshrouded with darkness, whereas Rayla’s head is haloed by the moon, giving her more positive light connotations (the way the show always has).

I do think though that the near the end of the season, perhaps while trying to stop Aaravos or something else with Ezran, Rayla will be forcefully dragged away from her blades, and Cube Hostage Exchange Theory (Callum exchanging the cube to Aaravos for her life) could happen, as it was always an “end of the season / final arc” specific prediction over the season as a whole.

Unless Rayla is an illusion carried by Aaravos through little Stella for the season long term, only to reveal the real Rayla all along has been having a truly terrible time (maybe Callum thinking something with Rayla is wrong, the others write him off as letting his hurt feelings cloud his judgement)... there still has to be a Narrative reason for Rayla’s absence to be relevant. I don’t think she would’ve come back if there was a significant problem (she wants to keep Callum safe from dying for her) and we know they are separated again with their aged up designs...

Something circa, “I just got her back, I am not losing her again” before he hands it over, per se. 

And I think that’s everything, but I’m sure I’ll update / add even more thoughts as I go along, with only a little over three weeks before s4 airs! Aaah