#aka the one where viren is dead

[kradogsrats]

The portrait dominated the room, still set on an easel until it could be framed and hung. It would no doubt be copied hundreds of times, into miniatures and engravings, to immortalize the royal family in the hearts of Katolis. For now, it mostly just made moving around the space awkward—the paint on it was barely dry, and it still smelled slightly of turpentine.

"You look so happy together," Lissa said. The artist had captured the ease with which Sarai stood beside King Harrow, the way they turned toward each other even as they looked in the same direction. She smiled, correcting herself. "You are so happy together."

Sarai laughed. "I don't know—I think we look a little stiff. Harrow hates standing still for these, and it shows. And I don't think she got my nose right." She scrunched up her nose, as if comparing it unfavorably with the one in the portrait.

Lissa looked at her. "How were you able to—how did you find it in you to move on, after Callum's father?"

She suddenly remembered she was speaking to the queen and flushed, looking away. Sarai had a way of putting her at ease—King Harrow would always be King Harrow, but Queen Sarai frequently slipped into being just Sarai. "That was too bold, forgive me. You don't have to answer."

"No, it's fine," Sarai protested. She hesitated for a moment, but the pause was thoughtful, rather than uncomfortable. "I loved him completely. I still do. I was a wreck, when he passed—I certainly wasn't setting out to find a new partner, after."

She studied the portrait, her eyes on Callum's small, serious face. "But I knew I wanted Callum to have a second parent, if anything ever happened to me. I knew I wanted more children. I suppose I just... left myself open to love."

Her face softened. "And love found me. It has a way of doing that."

Lissa remembered the dizzying rush of falling for a man with quicksilver eyes and magic sparking in his beckoning hand—how the course of her life had been irrevocably altered from what she'd always planned it to be. How it had been worth it. How it would never be worth it.

"It certainly does," she said.

"Why do you ask? Are you thinking about finding someone?" Sarai grinned mischievously. "Should I comb the Crownguard for particularly dashing individuals to send your way?"

"If you start trying to set me up with a Crownguard, I will teach Callum every Del Barian drinking song I know," Lissa threatened. She looked sidelong at Sarai, trying to keep a straight face.

Sarai cracked first, her face contorting with mirth before she burst into laughter. "You're not serious."

"I am absolutely serious," Lissa said, laughing as well. "I'll start with the bawdiest ones, just try me."

A tentative cry came from the other room, followed by a louder, more emphatic wail. Sarai sighed. "Someone's hungry."

"Or soiled, or gassy, or—," Lissa ticked the possibilities off on her fingers, smiling.

"No, that's the hungry cry. I'd know it anywhere." She pulled Lissa into a quick hug, kissing her cheek, then began to edge around the painting toward the nursery door. "Go home. I'll see you tomorrow. This thing should be out of the way, by then."

"That'll be a relief."

"And Lissa?" Sarai poked her head back around the portrait. "Maybe think a bit about staying open to love? For me?"

She retreated again before Lissa could respond—off to tend little Ezran, who was now crying with gusto. Lissa looked at the portrait again and sighed. The perfect family.

"I'll try," she murmured.

[siderealxmelody]

Relationship & Deaths

Verse: The Forever War Verse. The Massacre of Spring by Night for taken Aliren ignited the Fae Civil War, aka The Great War.

Windhaven/Hybern

Devlon - Warlord

Keir - brother - Hybern Heir

Selestra - Sister

Night

Aphaeleon & Selestra ♱♱ (Aphaeleon by Spring Massacre, Selestra, by the end of the Great War)

Daemon

Rhysand & Rhaenyra ♱ (Rhaenyra, by the end of the Great War)

Aegon & Aliren ♱ (Aliren, by the end of the Great War)

Pelias ♱ (By the end of the Great War)

Hybern

Keir & Iris

Morrigan (maybe others to come)

Spring

Tiam - High Lord of Spring

Lilith - sister

Iris - sister

Tiam & Shena ♱♱ (Spring Massacre)

Julius ♱ (Spring Massacre)

Ian ♱ (Spring Massacre)

Tamlin

Deia (Juniper)

Poppy

Lilith & Vale

Brennan

Mira

Violet

Iris & Keir

Morrigan

Dawn

Sarai - High Lady of Dawn

Sebastian - Prince of Dawn, brother

Silba - Princess of Dawn, sister

Sarai & Marizhel

Hallarial

Aelwyn

Adaine

Estrella & Emelin

Phos & Elizaveta

Sebastian & Natalia

Xaden

Orsus & Alaric

Aleksander & Azriel

Ilese & Nisene

Silba & Lumas

Aedion

Aelin

Winter

Boreas - brother

Twyla - High Lady of Winter

Cyrus - brother

Djel - sister ♱

Andulvar & Twyla

Ravenar ♱ (By the end of the Great War)

Kallias & Xanthos ♱ (Xanthos, by the end of the Great War)

Caldris & Caelum

Thana

Hypaxia

Djel & Ghezen (both dead)

Narcissus

Cyrus & Noelle (Natalia's little sister) ♱ (Cyrus by the end of the Great War)

Roland

Narcissus (former ward, removed for abuse)

Christopher (Kitt)

Malakai & Ophion

Dorian

Hollin

Autumn

Nismera - sister

Kaden - brother

Isaiah - brother

Sotoria - sister (dead)

Zefera - High Lady of Autumn

Beron & Zefera (mated pair, Beron worked for her haha)

Narcissus (Fated Mate to Amarantha, Ward of Autumn after suffering abuse in Winter)

Amarantha

Clythia ♱ (By the end of the Great War)

Aemma ♱ (By the end of the Great War)

Jurian ♱ (By the end of the Great War)

Alicent & Anastasiya

Eris

Soren ♱ (By the end of the Great War)

Viren ♱ (By the end of the Great War)

Kieran ♱ (By the end of the Great War)

Finnick

Theon & Lucien

Milori - Clarion (family friend to Beron) ♱♱ ( By the end of the Great War)

Alusina

Nesta

Elaine

Alina

Feyre

Shena & Tiam (Shena, best friend to Zefera) ♱♱

Julius ♱

Ian ♱

Tamlin

Deia

Poppy

Day

Parents need to be made. Children are the same generations as the other kids. Half witch, their father was one.

Helion - Heir to Day

Thesan - little sister

Summer

Parents need to be made. Children are the same generations as the other kids. Half witch, their mother was one. ♱♱ (Both, by the end of the Great War)

Nostrus - Heir to Summer ♱ (By the end of the Great War)

Varian - brother

Cressida - sister

Tarquin - brother

Dusk

Theia - High Lady of Dusk

Aidas & Theia ♱♱ (Both, by the end of the Great War)

Viserys ♱ (by the end of the Great War)

Helena ♱ (by the end of the Great War)

Silene

Silatharias

Witch Kingdom:

Hyrieus & Melinoe (Hyrieus & Aidas are brothers)

Syrena

Catriona

Halden

Creon

Orion

Mage Kingdom

Achlys & Korok (Achlys and Melinoe are sisters, their kingdoms at odds)

Vasily

Nikolai

Leanna

If used, this is where Grishaverse things go. 👀

@luxmaeastra

@starlsssankt

@sankta-alina-s

@musings-of-an-antari

//please let me know if this makes sense and if I miss any muses!//

[xadian-daydreams]

I hate the idea of Viren's development over S4 & 5 being discarded early S6, yet I don't think Viren is going to die off permanently, nor will Aaravos respect Viren's personal boundaries enough to give up the scheme he's been working on for 1000 years.

Aaravos: 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]

So, it occurs to me that if Viren won't willingly imbue himself with essence and ends up dead-ish, there's one character who can imbue a person's life essence into a drinkable form - Kim'dael. That ritual does however require her to prepare an alter and a bloodmoon, aka the harvest moon which only happens once a year, and there's a full moon on the last episode of S5, given that Viren's supposed to be dead in a few hours and Kim'dael is way over in the Sunfire camp... (unless there's a solution).

Which seems like a good way to have more Kim'dael, possibly even meeting up with Aaravos (when he's escaped) and team-with-a-deadline. I do like the idea that Aaravos might know her personally, maybe even helped her with founding her cult.

The only really dreadful implication of tying the Bloodmoon ritual in with the Blood of Child ritual is it gives an ominous reference to this imagery from Viren's fever dream;

Where Viren is no longer able to pull Claudia out of a blood tinted sea.

[raayllum]

Been thinking about the Ziard-Viren-Callum parallels, which is to say: Ziard and Viren both receive gifts (specifically staffs, but you could also argue Viren’s inherited relic staff works) and shortly thereafter end up dead. Ziard’s staff likely confirmed to Aaravos (first spotted by him in 2x04) that Viren would make an excellent pawn, and then we have the “Patience” key art of Viren symbolically pointing out the next pawn in Callum. Perhaps through Callum becoming the High Mage after Viren (as both are dressed in their arc 1 outfits at first) and that leading Callum to the mirror in a way?

Either way, the message that Aaravos uses and discards people easily is clear, so the fact Claudia hasn’t factored or shown up on his cosmic chess board in the same manner makes me think he has greater, long term plans possibly for her than he did for the others. We know she’s collecting things like Viren’s staff and wields the sun staff herself, but she hasn’t shown up as clear of a pawn yet, so we’ll just have to see where that goes and if she’ll be treated the same, if Callum will be treated differently, etc.

We also have the possibility of what sort of ‘gifts’ Callum may receive from Aaravos in S4. It may already refer to the cube, something Callum inherited the same way Viren inherited the relic staff, or it may be something new, in which case I’m leaning towards knowledge > an object. Maybe whatever dark magic spell he does in the trailer? Just... there’s gonna be some heavy consequences regarding something for Callum this season, and I can’t wait to see what it is

Another thing with this cosmic chess board is that chess, as a game, is about sacrifice even more than it is about strategy. You’re just constantly weighing what pieces you can afford to lose and how many pieces you can take without losing yours. One of my particular favourite moves to employ when I play is getting a pawn to the other side of the board and swapping it for one of my taken pieces (usually a rook for some reason tbh, or my queen if I’ve been dumb/unlucky). The main reason I say it’s sacrifice > strategy is because you build your strategy around what you are or are not willing to sacrifice in a game, which usually boils down to protecting your king and queen mutually at all costs, since they’re the two most important and valuable players. 

AKA a long winded way of saying I love chess symbolism with my whole heart, had some additional thoughts on it and general parallels, as well as if you are interested in more TDP-chess thoughts check out this meta of mine here

[beautifulterriblequeen]

I wonder if Harrow has often regretted to have killed Thunder and let Viren kills the baby dragon (as much he knows, Viren destroyed the egg,right?) Because when he learns about assassins coming to him, he's not really surprised, more sad and resigned. Maybe he's aware that it's his own fault : killing the golem to help people was a thing (and they have dealt with consequences) but killing the dragon by revenge was pointless and a thing that his wife wouldn't have wanted. what do you think?

Harrow seems a very thoughtful king, taking his rule and his directive to be a fair and just leader with deliberation and seriousness. I think he does a lot of thinking. I bet he always has, but when Sarai was alive, he probably said more of it out loud. I get the feeling that Viren has often tried to turn any "weakness" in Harrow's conversations, aka if he's mulling over a difficult problem or asking for advice, into an opportunity to guide the king to a result of his own preference.

I'm sure most of the time their goals have aligned, because they both want a stable kingdom. But as Viren's soul deteriorates over the years, and his empathy gets poisoned by his long term use of dark magic, I think he starts to care less about following Harrow and more about subtly managing him.

And on some level, I think Harrow senses this. He has a habit of keeping his troubling feelings under wraps until they burst out all at once, so I bet he never really discussed this with anyone, Viren included. He knew his friend would take it very personally to be questioned and doubted like that. Viren seems like he's always had a soul that's sensitive to critique, and at heart he just longs to be valued and accepted. Also, who would Harrow trust more than Viren, to talk to about it? Opeli? I don't think so. The two advisors could cause chaos with the king's private opinion let loose in the high council.

did I ramble, yes I did

So I think that Harrow has very quietly been taking retrospective notes on how his rulership is progressing - or digressing - with Viren's guidance, and he probably doesn't look directly at it very often. But when things come to a head between these two men early in S1, it seems clear that Harrow instantly has years of issues jump to his mind, and his temper flares when he realizes that Viren's gonna Viren, again.

I get the feeling that the things Viren has apparently helped him do for his people over the years have been pragmatic options which Viren has always described in the best light. And he's probably not wrong about the benefits of his plans, either. Viren's a smart guy! But big weighty decisions that involve people's futures and safety and livelihoods often have at least two sides to consider, and for every decision where Viren spun one option positively, there was another side where other things were never chosen. And I bet those options had positive aspects sometimes, too.

As a thoughtful king, Harrow must've wondered sometimes how different things would've been if he had done things with Viren less firmly in his guiding path. I bet those angsty thoughts built up over the years, just naturally as they do, but I bet there were just a few more than usual due to Viren's deterioration and the harder choices he nudged Harrow toward.

And emotionally manipulating a widower to seek revenge after nine years, when he had already accepted his sad reality? Yikes, Viren. Harrow did still hate Avizandum, but after that long, he'd contented himself with ruling his kingdom and raising his boys. He'd probably have lived his life just fine if Viren had never told him about the unicorn horn. Harrow got lost in his angry dark feels and agreed to the plan, but he didn't endanger anyone else: only he and Viren went to Xadia. And then, in a moment of weakness and emotion and pain, he agreed to Viren's egg-stabbing plan.

And then they escaped home, and Harrow started holding his breath, waiting for that other shoe to drop.

He knows there's a cycle. He tried to break it with Sarai when he talked about Lady Justice and seeing everyone equally, but he couldn't escape then, and he only sank further into its grip over time. He isn't surprised when Moonshadow assassins come for him, because that's how the cycle works.

I think, in the end, the only thing Harrow was blindfolding himself from was the truth of how he got off course as a king, one little step at a time. He didn't want to admit that he'd sauntered vaguely downward, so he couldn't admit that Viren had been leading him deeper and deeper into the cycle until a threat arose that told Harrow he'd truly infuriated Xadia this time: Moonshadow assassins, sent to take out the worst threats in the human lands.

They had never come for him before. Viren and Harrow probably both felt comfortable in their gray area. Oh, human assassins, sure, but hey, at least the Moonshadow assassins aren't getting involved. We're fine over here, nothing to get too worried about, live and let live, amirite?

Until that day, when Harrow came face to face with a new and terrible threat, and something about it told him, deep down, that his gray area wasn't as gray as he thought it was.

It's a big point in Harrow's favor that he basically agrees with the assassins: he has done terrible things, and he expects to pay the price for them. He stops excusing himself and sees the truth of his decisions for what they are.

He knew, deep down he knew. Just like Callum, when he couldn't admit to himself that Harrow was dead. But life moved on, and other decisions were pressing, and he could ignore the truth and keep his eyes on the future for a little while longer. Until he couldn't.

How can you change your path to ruin when every little step you take feels like the right one? It's hard. Harrow couldn't manage it. Viren's having the same struggle with his path, and so is Runaan. Perspective is hard. You have to choose to embrace a different one than you had, and you have to stare truth in the face and not blink. It's gonna hurt. People don't like hurting. But growth comes from stretching new muscles. It's not a bad thing. It's just very uncomfortable for a while.

I don't know if any of these men will get the opportunity to take new steps and make healthier choices. But I know Sarai would be proud of Harrow if he ever did.

[thenerdyalchemist]

Do any of the main events of the saga take place in pirate au? (aka harrows death, runaans imprisonment, the trio delivering zym wth the bodigies after them)

*cracks fingers* ohhhh man Iv has this idea in my head for a long time but keep forgetting to write it so here we go.

- The Royal Marines and pirates have not gotten along for years. For obvious reasons of course but there is a more tense connection between the pirate king and a major general Harrow. There was an incident years ago that resulted in the death of his wife Sarai. Meanwhile Runaan likes to place blame on them for the disappearance of Lain and Tiadrin although in the end that’s still a mystery.

- Rayla is 15 years old and it’s finally time for her first raid. They knew some fellow pirates in need of some supplies and so a relatively small marine ship filled with supplies seemed right to raid. Rayla was estatic she was so exited and of course Runaan was joining her. Ethari would stay on the ship like normal but he was worried for their girl.

- They swing over on the marine ship and while it was okay for a little bit things started to go sour really quick. That main reason being that Harrow and Viren were on this ship. Two highly ranked men whom Runaan has no idea would be on the ship. Certainly he would not have brought Rayla on this particular raid if he knew.

- He fought Harrow with his sword in an amazing duel. When it started coming towards its end Runaan noticed that Viren was about to shoot Rayla and he immidiatly got in between them. Runaan gets shot with this bullet in the shoulder. But something seemed off... getting shot was nothing new he was a pirate after all but whatever ammo this man used it was... wrong.

- He yelled for a retreat. Something the pirate king was never known to do but something was not right. He knew that and he was not going to take the chance of losing his daughter. He would apologize to Ethari later.

- Runaans entire crew and Rayla swung back on the pirate kings ship. Rayla was startled but she looked back like wait... where is Runaan? Then she saw him on the enemys boat. Injured. And with one last look at Rayla he cuts the rope connecting the two ships.

- Rayla watches Runaan get tackled by the enemies guard and gets dragged away. Rayla freaks out. No no no this can’t be happening and the crew tries to stop her but she does something reckless. Something she knows would make Ethari mad. She would apologize later. She jumps off the boat and tries to land on the ship carrying away Runaan. Somehow by some miracle she makes it and is able to grab a ledge of one of the cannon windows. She crawls in without hesitation.

- As soon as she’s in she knows there is no going back but she is not going to let her dad... the pirate king die here. She stealths around the ship staying out of site and tries to find Runaan.

- Runaan gets thrown in the dungeon. He knows there is no escape so he lets them chain him up with relatively no struggle. As soon as he’s locked up a cheer roars throughout the ship. They just captured the freaking pirate king. Do you know the bounty on this guy? They are all gonna be set for life. They take all of his gear and Viren takes his things. He wants proof that they have the pirate king.

- There is a party on deck. The marine men take time to celebrate and Runaan is left alone with nothing but his thoughts and the muffled sounds of the music on deck. Then a little whisper cries out to him from the corner of the room. There he sees his precious daughter that he had previously thought to be safe with his husband hiding behind a barrel.

- Rayla runs to him and though she’s not able to get through the bars to his cell Runaan tries to get as close as he can. She’s scared he knows it. She tries to apologize and Runaan just councils her and tells her that once they dock tommorow to find a pirate to bring her home. She shakes her head and she’s in tears. She has no clue what to do. He’s clearly injured and in pain chained up but... She’s powerless. This is the last conversation she has with Runaan.

- She wakes in the morning with a start as she hears the door to the room being unlocked. She panics not seeing a place to hide and then jumps in the barrel. The men come down and take Runaan away.

- She waits in the barrel for a little waiting for the men to leave and is about to jump out and follow Runaan when suddenly her barrel gets picked up. She muffles a squeak and decides it probably for the best if she stays quite for now.

- The ship had been docked when she was asleep. She had not noticed it at first but now as her barrel is being carried through the middle of town she knows this to be a fact. She’s terrified. If they take off the lid to her barrel all these men would immidiatly see the tattoos on her face and she would be dead.

- Suddenly her barrel is dropped and the sound of the crowd is gone but she’s stuck paralyzed. She has no idea what to do. They could have killed Runaan by now and how is she even supposed to get to him. What could she do. She just wants to go home with her dads and gods... Ethari... what did he do when he noticed they were gone and...

- Her barrels lid opens. She jumps out to tackle whoever just revealed her from her little fortress. She’s about to knock the mysterious figure out but instead of some huge marine man she realizes she just attacked a boy. A boy around her same age and when she looks up she sees another pair of eyes looking at her in fear.

- Callum was just trying to grab Ezran an apple. That’s all he was expecting to see when he opened this barrel. Not get tackeled by some random lady. She scrambles off of him and backs up into the wall. And he finally gets a good look at her. She’s a pirate. There is no doubt about it. Her sword. That outfit and on her face she had... tattoos? Oh wait. Oh sh*t he knew what that means. She was the pirate kings daughter...

- He’s about to yell for help and Rayla immidiatly shuts him up with her hand over his mouth. Her eyes made it clear that if he spoke another word she will kill him in the blink of an eye. He stays quite but Ezran peeps out “wait mam please just explain why you are here...”

- She relaxes after she realizes they are not going to attack her. They talk for a little and Rayla now knows she at least has some friendly people f here on land. She explains that she just wants to find her dad and leave. The boys also want to see their own dad so they agree that they will tell her where Runaan is once they talk with their own father.

- Callum goes to talk with Harrow and during his talk Harrow gives him a map. He tells Callum that he’s going to be going away for a little but in case of an emergency this map would help Callum find him but not directly.

- He tries to run back to Rayla and Ezran to explain that Harrow was leaving soon but by the time he got to them it was too late. Harrow has sailed away. Viren was left in charge. And after much searching though the dungeons Raylas fears were confirmed. Harrow took Runaan with him.

- They has to stay on land for a week. Callum and Ezran hide Rayla well but Rayla was restless to find a ship and sail away. Sail to rescue Runaan. However there is no ships on dock that they can find unguarded. She snoops throughout the fortress. Much to Callums displeasure and is even able to sneak into Viren room.

- She finds Runaans necklace. As soon as she sees it she tears up a bit. It was like wedding rings to her parents or at least that’s what it symbolized for them. With a heavy heart she takes it and thinks at least she will have something to give Ethari if she can’t save Runaan. But she really does not want to think about seeing Ethari with that possibility.

- Callum does some researching and discovers that the map is one that leads to a lost treasure. The treasure is said to be magical and he think Harrow took Runaan because he might have known where it is. That’s enough for Rayla and they steal a ship as soon as possible.

- With a lot of luck and distraction with Ezran help they are able to snag a boat and sail away. It’s just Rayla, Callum, and Ezran. One with amazing sailing skills and the other two having never been on a boat in their lives. They all start this adventure together. Not knowing that it’s gonna change the rest of their lives.

[lil-gingerbread-queen]

Dragon Prince Season 3 Review

Oh boy... I couldn't watch tdp season 3 until now so, yes, I'm pretty late. This time, my sister watched with me and I think she regretted it. I already talked about how I found the message of this cartoon weirdly made, and I hoped the new season would have been better... But it was worse.

I don't know where to begin... The total nonsense that is every decisions made by the principal characters? The weird comparison to Jews history that made me extremely unconfortable? Soren, aka the only well write one?

So, yes, you see the spirit. It's a harsh review. But, really, this season is badly writen. However, I will only talk about the plot, not about how I hated Callum and Rayla characters this season, or how awful the humor was.

I'm really close to make a "crack" vid about how bad this is written. But you're only gonna have the essay version. Let's begin.

Dragon and Elves are racists. They don't hide it at all, the season even begun with a dragon saying how humans are inferior. They treated them as garbage, finding an insect's life more important than their. And I'm not imagining it. But doesn't the show, at a single moment address that? Not at all. The humans shouldn't feel attack or in danger and, they are bad for wanting to be treat as equal. Look, that elf tortured mentally any humans she meets, totally okay with that! This one find them disgusting and don't even care a second about their lives! She also tortured them! Aren't you sad when she dies? Oh no, that dragon that killed a ton of humans because they didn't accept to be inferior, is dead now! That's awful, his son has no dad anymore!!! Really, I'm not gonna cried a bunch of dead racists, as magical as they are. And, you dare at the end, to make the Dragon Queen being happy to see humans and elves together?!?!!?! Hajsbdbskanxvdd Is it a joke?!?!?! Have you read your own scenario? That make no sense whatsoever.

Every character arc is rush or non-existent. (Soren and Claudia being the only exception) Nobody grows, nobody learned anything. Viren is suddenly extremely evil in the flashbacks, just as if the writers realized he has a good reason to fight elves and dragons (He has) and people could be with him. Why would he keep the MoonShadow Elves in his marbles, seriously?!

Repeating "Evil" doesn't make something evil. It only shows how bad this show is written.

The weird comparison to Jews. Maybe it's us (my sister and I), but wtf?!?!?! Firstly, there is this racist thing going on, with the "inferior race" being shown as evil and who should accept its inferior place. Secondly, Viren is dress in a Jesus kind of way and, literally open a lava sea in half. Maybe, you want to show him as "the savior he thinks he is" but it's so clumsy, it's borderline anti-semitic.

The war thingy is terrible. Already, Ezran's character is dangerous. A child as a king is a very bad idea, he hasn't finished to grow up and his whole personality and life will be fuck up because of those responsabilities. But, you make him decide to accept a war against the elves so the humans don't kill each other. And then, they kill the four armies, whitout a second thought. There isn't a moment where they're like "maybe we could find a way to make them human again? So we should probably don't kill them...", they just go for it. They're "monsters" now, because their soldats doing their jobs (yes, they aren't evil, they're fighting because dragons and elves are, in fact, a menace, and Viren didn't let them choose to be transform). Does anybody have any problems with killing all those people? Nobody, not even Ezran, not even Amaya who trained all those soldiers.

Amaya, my fave, is extremely bad written and I will never forgive that. She is captured and tortured, but fall in love with her enemy in the spam of a week. She is a general, have seen her soldiers being killed by those racists elves, but joined those same elves to fight her own army with no persuasion whatsoever, only with her distrust of Viren. Her sister has been killed by that dragon, what the hell?!?!?! Janai also has a whole new personnality at the moment her (extremely racist btw) sister wants to kill Amaya. I'm totally for those two to be together, but not like that. That's extremely bad. It should have take time for those two to trust each other.

That's all for now. No, I don't think I will watch the season four if there is one. Yes, maybe Netflix rushed them and that's why it's so poorly written. Yes, I have other problems with this show but I don't wanna talk about it in this long ass post, maybe another time. And yes, I still want to write a tdp fanfiction, because the world is interesting, and also were the characters before this season. On that, I'm out.

[darkspellmaster]

The Dragon Prince Theory: Could Aaravos be Callum's Ancestor or Father?

I was thinking of how much Aaravos and Elarion,  remind me of Mythal and Fen'Harel or Solas from Dragon Age and the myth around them, and how much Callum looks like Aaravos in the face area, jaw line and such, making me think the two are related.

So let me lay out some facts before I start to explain my reasons. 

Things that we know about the world of Dragon Prince: 

Elves can use one form of magic (moon elves use moon magic, etc.) 

Creatures have a primal connection to one form of magic (bait is fire, etc.) 

Humans can only use, as far as we know, dark magic 

Dark magic needs to exchange a life to extract the magic

Aaravos is the only elf that is shown to know/use  all of the known magics

Callum was able to tap into the wind

Callum’s father is said to be dead

Sarai seemed to have a stronger understanding of the magic world in general

Callum rejected Dark magic

Callum is said to be the key to unlocking Aaravos’s box 

Humans can use elemental magic but only with a primal stone

Humans can be attracted to Elves (Soren’s comment on Rayla.)

So why did I point those out, because I think there are some key factors in the story of Aaravos and Elarion, that leads into Sarai and Harrow’s story along with what’s going in regards to Rayla and Callum. 

Let me though start with Aaravos and Elarion’s poems and explain about Mythal and the Dread Wolf. 

I am not going into the long history of this as it’s way to long and complicated, so to all DA fans sorry if I miss things, I’m trying to simplify. So in the games of  Dragon Age we learn of the lore of what we could call the High elves. These High elves are very fae like, aka, as with folklore they promise to help you only to screw you over in the end. In the world of DA these High elves were owning the rest of the elf races and other races in the world. In their greed and lust for power they pretty much caused the birth of Demons and other things. 

Now among these High Elves were two High Elves that didn’t agree. Mythal and Fen’Harel (or Solas in DA3) -although we don’t know his actual name as of yet. Mythal, as per the lore we know now, was trying to do something to stop the High Elves from harming others and ended up being murdered and later her spirit wound up in the body of a woman named Flemeth. 

Fen’harel seeing his love killed, wound up locking away the High elves, and pretty much caused a very large problem in the world of DA regarding magic for a long time and moving forward after avenging his lover’s death is trying to stop the High Elves in his own way which could kill everyone. 

Now I bring this up because their love story reminds me a lot of the poem that was referenced in The Dragon Prince when Viren was looking for info on Aaravos. 

(Link to the first poem here done by Moonshadow Meme’s) 

So in Moonshadow’s translation we have various versus, which I’m going to label as V and a number next to it, and it goes from the top to the bottom of their post.  

V1.  They turned their backs and left Elarion to die.

Now you can read this in various ways, but it’s clear that some group turned their backs on this woman and left her to her death. However, if I take into account the various myths out there plus the DA story of Mythal, you can surmise that the young woman here is a Christ like figure. Typically this means that you have people that are shunning her for her gifts. As with Mythal, when she was killed the other High Elves did nothing to stop it from happening as per what’s in the game lore. 

V2. Elarion, her vessel fighting death, withered and suffered in darkness...

The first thing that strikes me is the word vessel. Now what we’re looking at here is the biblical used of the term vessel and not the ship. 

“ (chiefly in or alluding to biblical use) a person, especially regarded as holding or embodying a particular quality.”

So what does this allude to here? Well again the idea of her being an important figure at some point is clear, and she embodies qualities that make her “The special” in this case. The implication here is that either she was attacked or poisoned and is now dying, as withered itself shows that she’s becoming ill from possibly something. It could be the dark magic, as we see what that does to a person, or some other illness or poison that’s consuming her body. Whatever it is it’s painful and she’s on her own or blinded, or in the literal dark. 

until the last star shone from afar...

You could allude to the idea of the last star being just that, a bright light from the early dawn that fades when the light of the sun comes up. 

Or, more likely the allusion here is to the idea of Aaravos being the last of the Star Elves. We know that they are rare, as per the comments from the official tumblr and twitter that Aaravos is a rare elf, telling me that there isn’t that many left. In this case the implication is that he’s the last one, and the shone from afar means that he wasn’t physically there. Or at least he wasn’t there at first...

Now it could be that Aaravos was in the mirror all this time and had passed the cube to Elarion, like how he sent the worm to Viren. But, if that was the case then why would the humans have said mirror? Seems a bit odd to me. So for now let’s put the “Aaravos has been in the mirror for a very very very long time” to the side as we don’t know how long he’s been locked up. 

But the afar idea give me the feeling that he came to her from a distance and she saw him through her minds eye, rather than in person at first. 

In all likelihood Aaravos found her in the woods or someplace in Xadia, and heard her and came to her to see what was going on, and he was physically near her.  

she touched it: fire, a gift, a spark

Now again, we have to assume here that the it is Aaravos and not the mirror as, again, we saw that Aaravos could only send things through the mirror and not physically come through it yet. On top of this, Viren touched the mirror a few times, and didn’t learn the magic through the mirror itself. Though it’s clear that Aaravos knows how to teach through it. 

Assuming then that it was Aaravos she touched, then the words have some different meanings. 

Fire could mean the actual teaching of fire like how he put out the flame. It could however indicated attraction, as fire is known as a symbol of passion. It could also be shown that he showed her about fire in some way.  

A gift, clearly the gift of magic given by Aaravos to her, to teach her. 

A spark, again two meanings here. First one could be lighting, thus an electrical thing going on in magic or how to pull the spark from a living being to use the magic, but there’s an issue there as Aaravos never used a living being to do the magic, only his own blood making me think Dark Magic is a kin to blood magic in DA, where you could kill yourself using it if you are not careful with it. However spark could also mean love, or the spark of love. Indicating that there were feelings there. 

V 3. Elarion, with her bright white, embraced the night’s great dark flame...

Again so much going on here that could mean a few things. Bright white could be indicate a blank slate of a person that could be taught, as in there’s nothing there that can’t be molded. Bright white could be connected to innocent purity, like something angelic, or it could also indicate the potential for light magic if there is such a thing. 

Embrace could be her willingly accepting Aaravos’s teachings, or/and, it could mean a hug as a sign of affection, or in some cases it could be alluding to a more intimate sort of affection being shown. Whatever the case may be Elarion clearly took on Aaravos as a mentor figure, and possible more, given the next line. 

and when she (it?) bowed, offered surrender, the name “Aaravos” was whispered...

Clearly this, again, can be read in various ways. For sure she’s becoming his student and learning from him. She’s offering herself to his services, though in the scene with Viren, it’s the reverse that’s going on. Also, again, surrender could take on double meaning as it could imply a more intimate sort of surrender here, as in a physical as well as a spiritual one. 

The poem then goes on to talk about the fact that Elarion spread her roots, as in she was out there teaching people what she was taught and Aaravos was her midnight star. That line there seems way more intimate than just something you would call a mentor or teacher in this case. 

The last full verse indicates that it’s probably winter, but the implication there too with the idea of her pulling her roots close, or her servant’s close, against the night’s murderous chill could be two things. 

One it could be indicating an attack by Moon Shadow elves, or two Aaravos was betrayed by her and he was going to get revenge on it. 

The last lines in the poem are interesting though without connections. Flower blossomed in allusions could be her growing from a weaker person to a stronger one. Or it could indicate a more womanly person, we see her going from her being weak in the dark to her fears and the dark being scared of her. The issue becomes what are the last lines? It could be that she was looking for Aaravos, or that others were seeking him out? The last line makes me think that there’s a connection to him and the dragons. 

Now, to me the poem may hint at Elarion and Aaravos having some sort of intimate relationship on top of just being teacher and student. As with Fen’Harel and Mythal, the idea I’m looking at is that Elarion was able to learn magic from Aaravos, and became a stronger person who taught others how to use the dark magic to better their lives. With Elarion mirroring some of Mythal’s story, you may have some one that is being blacklisted by the Elves, but praised by the humans for using the magic that doesn’t seem normal and which takes life in order to use it. 

We know whoever wrote the other comment on Aaravos, it’s clear this is someone who likes him. 

(Translation from salemsrealm ) *Note: the red lines were done by Salemsrealm 

The way it’s written is very much like how in the bible you have Letter’s to different groups discussing their religion, like “A letter from paul to the Corinthians” that’s the feel I get regarding the passage that has Aaravos listed as a friend to all. It also goes on to add notes about how others are going to see them (humans I’m assuming) as equals and that he sees potential in us. 

  Which leads to the Option one aspect of this theory that Callum, possibly through his father’s, or maybe Sarai’s family line is related to Aaravos. We know that, though Harrow’s letter, the cube was passed down through generations, though we’re not given a clue who had it last. I have to assume it was either via Sarai getting it from her husband or getting it through her own parents. 

And then there’s Option two, which is that Avaravos is Callum’s dad. 

So let’s start with Option one here since I know a lot of people will be wondering how the hell option two works. 

Now what do we know about Callum’s father. Well nothing, honestly. What little we do have comes from King Harrow in his letter: 

“ Because I’m your stepfather, I was trying to give you the space I thought you needed to love your real father, even though he passed away.” 

We know that according to Harrow Callum’s birth father is dead. But outside of this, we have nothing about him. 

We do know though that, again, through the letter about Aaravos’s box. 

“This cube is an ancient relic that has been passed down through the ages. It belonged to an elven wizard in Xadia, the Archmage Aaravos, a master of all six primal sources. It is hidden in a box of keys because it is known as the"Key of Aaravos" and legends say it unlocks something of great power in Xadia. Perhaps it will be you, Callum, who discovers the key’s secrets.” 

So what can we say about this bit of information that is important. 

Well for one thing we know that it belonged to Aaravos and was passed down through the ages. So...how did Harrow get it? We know that Viren doesn’t know about the damn thing, he’d have gotten to it already if he did. And it’s clear that he didn’t know who Aaravos was, meaning that the name is not well known. 

However there are books and the poem to go by. Question is, who gave Harrow that box? How long has he had it? If it was something in his family he would have told Callum that it was passed down to him, right? So let’s assume for the moment this object didn’t belong to Harrow, well then who had it first? Given it’s an elven item and going into Xadia is not easy, that means that it had to have come from someone connected to Xadia. 

If we assume that Sarai is like Ez, then we can guess she has some skill with talking to creatures. So it’s not too far off to assume that she may have gotten the Cube and given it to Harrow as a gift. 

Now the question is, how did she get it? Well option one is that she took it, but she doesn’t strike me as the sort to do that. So option two it was a gift. We know that the elves are not really very into humans all that much, but there could have been a friendship that was struck up between Sarai and an elf that lead to her gaining the box. But...

Option 3 is more likely, where in Sarai may have met an Elf that became her husband, or lover, and they produced Callum. Now given that Callum managed to connect to the Storm/sky, I wouldn’t be too surprised if we had a case of his dad being a Sky/Storm Elf. 

Note the green in the skin tone, could be connected to the eye color Callum has. 

So let’s assume for a second that could explain Callum’s connection to the storm. But, given how this story is going there’s a chance that Sarai may have some abilities in her, passed on through her family, which could make her a descendant of Aaravos and Elarion. Given that human’s are a more common aspect, this could be a case of said sky elf, or even if his dad is human, than he could be the descendant of Aaravos through various means as we don’t know yet how the family line works for elves and if they can intermix. 

If this is the case that Sarai or Callum’s dad has the blood of Aaravos in them, then it’s likely they could have passed it onto Callum and caused him to gain the magic to unlock that box. The likely scenario would be that Elarion had a child with him and that the child, or children, went on down the line until we hit Sarai or Callum’s dad. Either case we have a person who would be considered a halfling or some percentage star elf allowing for magic to be part of the blood line. 

Which could explain why Callum insisted that he could feel that he could do magic. This I think is important as no one else ever says this, not even our two dark magic users. Callum knows it’s something that he can do, he must do, and thus the letter from Harrow makes him feel more sure that he can connect to that part of him. Leading to Harrow’s comment in his dream state where he was able to break from the hold the dark magic had on him. 

This could be the most likely case in regard to the story since Aaravos is a rare elf, given the details we have so far. However there is option 2. 

Now Option 2 is a bit...odd. Not because it’s something that seems illogical, it’s just a question of how and when, and possibly why. 

So let’s start with the first issue of this theory, which would be “Wasn’t Aaravos locked up for a long time?” 

Answer: We don’t know. We know that Ruaan said that it’s something worse than death. But how does he know this? You could argue, Legends, but then wouldn’t that have come out at some point? Either through Rayla or the Moon elf? Fact is we don’t know, and the thing that is making this a bit fuzzy is that Rayla’s parents were where Viren found the mirror. If this was something that was that old, why need elves to protect it if it’s with the dragons? You would think they would trust them to not have it taken. 

So assuming that Aaravos wasn’t locked up for a long time...then where was he? 

Well, probably hiding out, away from the eye of the elves for his crime, or at least what they perceived to be a crime, giving magic to the humans. And the most likely place is the place that Lujanne mentioned, the weird world between life and death. 

If, as I’m guessing and hopefully correct, the mirror acts as a portal and was locked due to the magic writing on the frame, then Aaravos could have used the mirror or mirrors like it to go through this place, since he knows and can use Moonshadow Elf magic. This would mean the mirrors are like the Eluvians from Dragon Age, acting as a means of travel through the fade and the veil where all the magic in the world there is kept. 

So how does this lead to the idea of Callum being Aaravos’s son? 

Well let’s start with the facts. We know that, according to the poem, Aaravos gave magic to the humans, and he sees them as interesting and having potential. To me this reads again, like Solas, seeing great things coming out of them. Meaning that Aaravos has no issue with being around and hanging out with humans. 

We also know that the box in question belonged to him, but not that he made it. 

It belonged to an elven wizard in Xadia, the Archmage Aaravos, a master of all six primal sources. It is hidden in a box of keys because it is known as the"Key of Aaravos" and legends say it unlocks something of great power in Xadia.

So what’s important here to note is that it belong to Aaravos, not that he made it, making me think that this wasn’t just a case of him crafting this but it being passed on to him through his clan of mages. This means that he was a holder of it. 

Now we know that Aaravos can use all the sources, we’ve seen it in action:

And yet he’s the only one that can do it. According to Rayla the magic that the elves use is an internal thing, and the implication is that the elves can’t learn other forms of magic. A sun elf can’t learn water magic, and a moon elf won’t be able to learn say storm magic. 

As seen in season one, there is no hand motion, and Rayla goes shadow. But like Callum Aaravos needs to use the magic in the same way Callum does. He has to write the symbol. 

Yet Aaravos, because he’s a star touched elf, this probably means that he has a connection to the world in a different way because every thing on earth has some connection to a cosmic energy due to the fact that, you know, we’re kind of made of star dust. 

If you notice the other person that seems to have that connection is Callum. 

After he wakes up and talk to Rayla he mentions that he feels more connected to the world and is able to latch onto things. 

During his time in his mind there’s a moment when his mother helps him out of his panic attack and when he’s using the other magic...what does he do, draws it out like Aaravos. We know he knows how to do this due to the Primal stone, but, it’s interesting that he recovers so fast, and seems to understand it better now. 

Another factor to consider is the fact that Callum and Aaravos have similar looks:

The reason I bring this up is because while faces on the show do have similarities, both Ez and Callum show looks like their parents. 

And if you look at Aaravos and Callum, with Sarai’s softer side, well you can see the similarities there. 

So then the question becomes how, how could Callum look human and still be part star elf, wouldn’t that stand out? 

Well, again we look to Dragon Age. One of the lead characters of the first story Alistair , is actually half elf on his mother’s side. However because of the more dominate traits from his human father, Alistair looks human. 

We don’t know how it works in the world of The dragon prince but I wouldn’t be surprised if it’s similar in nature to how DA does it where the human aspect is physically stronger and takes away the ears and the horns. After all Soren even comments on how good looking Rayla is, meaning that a human could fall for an elf and vice versa. 

So how would Aaravos and Sarai meet and create Callum? 

Well the most likely situation was that Aaravos probably was hiding away from the elves, or they didn’t know that he had been the cause of the dark magic being created. It’s not that hard to buy into the fact that he was more of a person that like solitude. 

We see in his room that he studies a lot of books, and clearly he seems pretty calm and collected for someone locked away. So it’s not too hard to suppose that after events with the humans being pushed out of Xadia, he may have followed in a way over time and watched how things played out. 

As for Sarai, well, to me it seems pretty clear that she has the same skill that Ezran has, to talk with animals, and this could flow into talking to magical creatures as well. Given the fact that no one believes Ezran when he says he can talk to the animals, it could be that Sarai had the same issue, leading her to probably go off on her own as a young woman to deal with that. 

And let’s be honest, after seeing her personality and looks, it’s not hard to believe that anyone wouldn’t find her attractive. 

On the side of Aaravos, given how many are already liking how he looks, attraction wouldn’t be that huge a jump for Sarai in this case. On top of that he may not have been walking around as an elf. We know that the Moonshadow mages can cast illusions, as per Lujanne in season 1 and 2, so turning that magic on himself and creating a persona would be a easy trick for Aaravos. 

We also know now that Ezran takes after his mom in the trust department, and that she doesn’t seem to be against magical beings. So it’s not a leap in logic to assume that she wouldn’t be against the idea of being in love with someone who was an elf and different from her. 

It would not be a hard sell either to have it were Aaravos showed Sarai about the other creatures in Xadia, and helped her to hone her ability. if the poem is true too, Aaravos wouldn’t be against Amaya for her being unable to hear, though I don’t think he would have shown her his true form, but would have probably shown Sarai. Aaravos probably also would have seen a skilled warrior in her, something that could have complimented his magic. (Heck you could argue that their dynamic mirrors that of Rayla and Callum, a female fighter and a male mage.) 

The two easily could have met in the woods, with Aaravos in his illusion, and the two hitting it off. Leading eventually to some sort of confession of love, leading to something akin to a marriage, and possibly Aaravos confessing about what he is at some point in time. This could have easily lead to the two creating Callum and him being born with the hidden power to use the other primal sources like his father. Keep in mind that there’s no rules that say he couldn’t have loved to women at different times. 

However I have a feeling that if Aaravos was in hiding, his cover may have been blown and he would have had to flee. We know due to Runaan that the mirror is seen as worse than death, and we know that Rayla’s parents were more than likely guarding it. Moonshadow elves are the assassins of the clans, and we see how they do things, which leads me to think that they couldn’t outright kill him and were probably sent by the other elves to take him out for teaching the dark magic to the humans. 

Which brings me to the second point of Sarai. Given her actions in season 2 I have to think she wouldn’t just let him be killed or taken before her. So more than likely Aaravos could have given her the cube, and explained to her what it was, which she later gave as a gift to Harrow to keep safe for Callum for when he was older. And she in turn explained to him the story behind it as explained by Aaravos to her. No doubt to keep her safe it’s not to large of a leap to think that he used that magic of his to make it hard for her to find him, and probably she thought he had died due to blood or other things she could have found in an event of a struggle with the Moonshadow elves. 

This leaves the next big question. If he is Callum’s father, now what? Is he evil or no? 

To me Aaravos seems to be the type where what he’s doing is bad, but he doesn’t think he’s being bad. Again, if the poems are telling truth, then there’s a chance that he actually saw good in humans, and this may be a case of him, over time, wanting to get back at the world for screwing things up for him. 

As with Solas from DA, there’s this idea that he’s a bit of a trickster type who is seeking revenge for what happened not just to him but those he cared for, and becoming more and more willing to find a way out. Clearly he was doing something when he walked out of that room, and we know he’s manipulating Viren. It seems to me he sees him as a way out, and this could lead to some interesting moments with Ezran and possibly Callum. 

Let’s say he finds out that Sarai is dead, if he still has feelings for her, will he blame Xadia more for it’s actions? Would he see in Ezran what he saw in Sarai, and want to help him grow his gift? Or would he be jealous of the boy who’s father was with the woman he loved and who’s actions lead to her death? 

Also if you look at Callum in this case, not only would he probably want to see his son again, but it’s highly likely that he would want to train him too. Yet as we saw Callum could be the one able to unlock that box, and for someone that is probably very good at playing others with a silver tongue, it wouldn’t be a huge leap to think he could get Callum to help him get whatever it is that the box connects to in Xadia. This could lead to some very dramatic aspects, especially if Aaravos uses the weakness of Claudia, or Rayla or even Callum to exploit things and get his way. 

Could he love his son and want him to join him? To train him? Would Callum be willing to work with him? Or would he reject him and connect back to Harrow as his father and want to be like he was? How would this affect Aaravos, and would that lead to some darker things coming. 

Having Aaravos be Callum’s father not only would be a huge dynamic for the magic and growth of Callum, but for the over all story as well, because it would make him have to confront who he was and connect directly to the idea of what Harrow said in his letter to him...

“ I ask you and your brother to reject history as a narrative of strength and instead have faith that it can be a narrative of love.

I’ve tried to be selfless as a king, but as a father, I have a selfish wish. And that is for you and Ezran to be…free. Reject the chains of history. Do not let the past define your future, as I did. Free yourself from the past. Learn from it, understand it, then let it go. Create a brighter future from your own hearts and imagination.”

Having both these men effect Callum’s choices could lead to some really great story telling and push the idea of creating that brighter future. It would explain all of Callum’s desires to be a mage, because it’s something he’s born with, and would also be a huge connection to the box and make sense for why he can be the one that can unlock it. Having Aaravos being his father would be, honestly, fun. 

*Well if you made it all the way to the end, congratulations, and I hope this all makes sense as a theory to you dear reader. 

[luthienliveblogslately-blog]

Milestone write-up!

Since the story seems to be closing one story-arc and moving on to another, I feel this is a good place to take stock, summarize what we know and make some more or less educated guesses at what might happen in future. It got a bit away from me (”a bit” lol), so here’s a read more for your convenience. 

Players on the board

Last we left off, shit had decidedly hit the fan. We got painful confirmation that the elves successfully assassinated King Harrow, but they in turn had a painful price to pay. From what we can tell, Runaan is the only survivor, and he has been captured by Soren and Claudia. Claudia thinks he might come in “useful”, whatever that may mean. Might be they’ll interrogate him for information about Xadia, might be that Claudia has some more nefarious, magical things planned. She might ask him about Rayla and the egg, but it’s not like he can tell her anything that she doesn’t already know, aka Rayla and the boys have the egg and they plan to return it and use it to restore peace. Maybe, if they keep talking for long enough, he might actually get her to see that the egg really is just a yet to hatch baby dragon and therefore a sentient being in need of protection, and not just a powerful magical weapon to be used by whoever sees fit. If Runaan manages to escape or communicate with other elves, our heroes will have some real problems. He clearly sees Rayla as a traitor and seeks to punish her for the perceived crimes she committed, and there’s still that pesky magical bounty on Ezrans’s head… 

It’s hard to say what Claudia and Soren will do next. I think it depends very much on if Viren is sticking around the castle or not, and what his plans are. As to what his plans might be… god knows. Just how much does he want the egg back? Is he willing to go after it himself, or will he maybe send Soren? How much does Soren know about all this anyway? Five bucks says he had no idea about anything tbh. You know what still hasn’t been opened yet btw? The fucking letter. It’s still in Viren’s study. If it really has a contingency plan like “Callum becomes prince regent until Ezran is old enough to rule” I get the feeling Viren might pull some GoT-style shenanigans and try to put himself on the throne. At this point there isn’t really anything I wouldn’t put past him. In any case though the kingdom might be thrown into serious chaos for a while. After all: the King is Dead, long live the…. wait, who now? The crown prince is missing? The step-prince is missing, too? Well, guess it’s time for some good old-fashioned power grabbing! 

And then there’s our three four protagonists. We don’t know where the kingdom of Katolis is exactly, but in any case they have a long journey ahead. They will have to stick to the woods for most of it and avoid towns I think. Rayla can’t be seen by humans, the egg can’t be seen either, and Viren might try and put a bounty on all of them anyway, so the boys might not be save either. I trust Rayla will be able to get the foods from the woods though, so that should be alright. And then eventually they’ll reach the Breach and have to make their away across it and around however many standing armies manning the border from both sides. Yikes. Though we have no idea how far they’ll go in three remaining episodes. There are after all at least 5 more potential seasons in store for us, so there’s a good chance they won’t even remotely come close to the Breach in this one.  What I’m really worried about is Rayla keeping the truth about Harrow from the boys.  While it breaks my heart just thinking about them having to mourn their dad, I’m worried about Callum lashing out at Rayla in his grief. We already had a scene when he found out about the assassination plot and subsequently flipped out at Ez out of fear, and Ez hadn’t even really done anything. How much worse will that reaction be if she’s been lying to them for several days, even if it was just to spare them the pain? It might damage his trust in her, Callum might even try and make them split up and continue without her. Sounds like a really bad idea, but people do stupid things when they’re angry and sad. 

Other unresolved plot points

WHAT DOES THE FUCKING LETTER SAY

What’s up with the Mirror? For that matter, why is the mirror fishy enough to be covered up but not fishy enough to be hidden in the Lair of Dead Things? 

What’s with the picture Harrow looked at last time we saw him alive? It’s gotta be something, right? Why would they make the camera zoom in on it lying face down on the bed otherwise? Just have Harrow put it away and then forget it exists, don’t give it an extra shot!

Pip! Is he still alive? D: 

Callum still has the Storm Stone, but he might have to get his hands on a book or find himself a teacher to learn some new spells probably? 

WHAT DO THE BLACK EYES DO? DO THEY EVEN DO ANYTHING OR ARE THEY JUST FOR CREEPY EFFECT? 

Viren’s staff! Just cool historical artifact or actually relevant to the plot? 

Shameless Tin-hatting aka Foreshadowing Fucking Everywhere aka Miscellaneous Shit I Noticed While re-watching ep 1-3

Callum’s drawing of a Dragon roasting a Marshmallow Monster -> this show’s version of the Cookie Cat jingle? Possibly depicting Viren’s inevitable demise? 

Not foreshadowing, but I realized when the Narrator says “on the eve of last Winter’s Turn” in the opening what is meant with “last” is just most recent, as in “last month” or “last Christmas”. So it probably was some solstice type date after all. Makes sense with it now being spring. 

People keep pointing out how shit Bait is at hiding. I’m afraid at some point they’ll have to hide from something REALLY BAD and Bait will get them found. :/ Really, Bait being called Bait just seems super unfortunate in general. 

You know how Rayla says “My Heart for Xadia” during the ritual? Yeah, I’m getting the feeling Rayla will be instrumental in getting Ezran out of the magical contract, possibly in a super heroic way by just doing what her heart tells her to and saving the day, or possibly just… by dying in his stead. Oh god I feel like I jinxed her. :( 

You know how Callum was like “You’re so lucky, you get to learn magic!” and Claudia was like “You get to learn sword fighting!” and then Callum was like “I’d switch places in a second!”? Well, he’s doing magic now, so…. the little disaster bi that is myself is praying for Claudia in armor with a big-ass sword being a BAMF. ´

Anybody else who really wants to know what is under that OTHER, BIGGER tarp in the Lair of Dead Things? Because I really wanna know. I bet Ezran knows already. 

Harrow said about the letter that “[Callum will] understand in time.” What makes me think there’s more in there than just his last will, possibly it’s also his last confession. What terrible shit has he done over the years of his reign, how much of it did Viren have his fingers in and how much of it can Viren use against him post-mortem? And how will the boys react when they get confronted with their dad’s uglier side, possibly via what the elves or even some direct victims have to say about him? 

I’d really like to have a look at that book Callum is carrying everywhere. I figure it’s his sketch book and not relevant to anything, but it might still be fun to get to see some pages anyway. 

Stuff that I got spoilered on because there’s too many tags to block :( 

I saw some pics of the Dragon Prince after hatching! D: I’m sorry, it feels like I robbed myself of an awesome surprise and you of a genuine reaction. :( I didn’t look very closely, I just saw that he was adorable and had roughly the same color scheme as his dad. Which leads me to some more tin hatting: What with Thunder being called that and also breathing lightning, I’d like to propose that the Storm Stone still has a big role to play after all, other than just providing Callum with a magical source he can carry around. 

I saw General Amaya of the Standing Battalion being name dropped in a text post. I scrolled too fast to see any context, but considering who she is I guess we’ll get her as an upcoming character in some capacity.

I know that the elf making the MAGIC TREES amulets gets another ending slide at some point, and that people are theorizing he and Runaan are a Thing.  I’m not a super big fan of Runaan at this moment in time so I couldn’t give less of a shit about his love life tbh, and as much as I like to ship things I usually need a bit more than literally two pictures to get me going, so. I dunno, don’t expect much from me on that front until more material comes out in later seasons I guess. Like… if there isn’t enough for people to make emotional gif sets out of, can you even really call it a ship?

Netflix tried to push Chapter 4 on me when I went to re-watch the others. I got it shut down quickly enough, but I still saw the title. I think it was… Bloodthirsty? Bloodlust? Either way I think either Runaan is gonna have a REALLY bad time very soonish or our protagonists will have to run REALLY fast from people trying to catch them.  Maybe both. 

[fugitoidkry]

Okay but The Dragon Prince MEJOR spoilers:

So I watched episode 3 again after watching the whole first season, and I might be wrong, but I don't think king Harrow is dead?

Because during episode 2 and 3 there has been an insistence on the power of the two snake heads and the whole absorbing someone's soul and changing it to another's body. And like after that conversation with Claudia, Viren acknowledged that Harrow was right and that at some point during their lives they stopped treating one another as friends and he thought that maybe he should be the one sacrificing (changing his soul and putting it in Harrow's body to die for him).

And like we can't be sure anymore if he is truly dead since Rayla lost her bracelet that indicated her that her mission to kill Ez and Harrow wasn't over so...

But after being accused again for being the one that fucked up with the egg, using dark magic and being called not a brother but a servant and kneeling in front of Harrow as an order, he changed his mindset.

(Like I am loving Viren as a villain because he isn't just your regular bad guy who does bad things look at me how bad I am. But has that thing that reminds me of Avatar of showing a human side that makes you feel sad about him until you can't feel sad anymore for him. Aka: how he doesn't care about his own children and manipulate them)

But you don't see during the castle's battle any moment where the elves enter the king's room and assassinate. You just see next episode his funeral.

But like there is also a huge focus on Pip, Harrow's bird, even a little scene between Viren and the bird in the funeral episode where he asks the bird if he doesn't sing anymore.

And like... I was wondering if maybe Harrows soul is trapped on the bird's body. Because Viren has showed a thing for trapping his enemies in stuff, like the elves in the coins. He went from 'I am willing to do anything to protect the king. Anything' and 'You are my king but also my friend' to revenge mode, showing Harrow 'his place' (like Harrow did to him when he called him a servant): being a tiny jail without being able to speak while he watches Viren rule the kingdom.

[spaceprincesses]

ok here’s a post of all my random tdp thoughts so i don’t clog up everyone’s dashes:

Amaya and Janai were great but I feel as though some scenes w them were cut out since we have the queen allowing janai to keep amaya alive, and then a few episodes of not seeing them, amaya is able to convince janai to let her out and try to stop viren

Yeah I know they werent on great terms at that point either but i just want more scenes of the two of them together

also the interpreter sunelf is my fave

I swear Nyx was featured a lot more prominently in the trailers, which makes it weird that she’s literally just a one-off character

I am so proud of Soren, and I legit thought he killed viren for a while but the fact that he was willing to do so just shows what a great guy he is

also his apology to callum was great

On that same note, Claudia is giving real Azula/Catra vibes right now with her decent into viren’s shit

Also the way they showed that Viren had died with the crown being all bloodied and bent, idk i thought viren’s resurrection scene was really well done.

but also boo viren’s still alive

also claudia plz get some help ur dad is rlly shitty

I just remembered that phoe-pheo hasn’t reformed yet

also the moonshadow elf coins?????? someone help them!!! Rayla’s parents are probably coined up too

ALSO im starting to think that Harrow might actually be dead ;_;

also where was lujanne during the final battle?

same w nyx

And now, Raylum:

There were like 6 different times where callum or rayla just kept going about how great the other was while the other blushed oh my god

also callum’s “you are so....” fucking killed me???????

One thing I’m scared of is that since since we are supposedly only about halfway thru the series, that the writers might start writing some arbitrary arguments or decide to separate them so several episodes at a time in order to keep their relationship “interesting” and i really hope they don’t do that

but I am glad that they didn’t try to maintain some “will they/won’t they” bullshit for more than one episode so that’s good

ALSO, THE WING SCENE?????? AKA THE MOST ROMANTIC BULLSHIT OF ALL TIME???????????????

Does it matter that they’ve only known each other for like three weeks and have only really been dating for like 3 days? NO BC THEY LOVE EACH OTHER

Anyways this post is specifically for @disasteronmain so they can know exactly how I feel without having to scroll thru my queue

[raayllum]

Updated Season Four Predictions

AKA the clips of 4x01 have given us a lot to talk about and re-evaluate, so let’s talk about it! Full spoilers down below including a twitter summary of 4x01 “ReBirthday” from SDCC 2022, so if you don’t want to see all the spoilers we’ve gotten so far, please move past the read more! For everyone else, strap in! It’s gonna be a doozy.

Driving Narrative force for S4 / S4-S6

So the driving force for S4 and beyond is clearly Claudia’s resurrection and the ticking timeline Aaravos has given her: one month to free Aaravos from his prison or else Viren will die and stay dead, this time. This indicates that Claudia resurrected Viren with some of Aaravos’ help in terms of magic, and not just the spell (or ingredients) it would take to bring him back. 

There are two routes this journey could take: either it’s the actual travel time to wherever they have to be in order to free Aaravos from his prison (possibly the ruined Star Nexus, whose location is unknown). Or it could mean getting a powerful relic and/or ingredient from each of the six primal sources. They already have a corrupted Sun staff, so the Sun primal is covered, but it leaves Claudia with a mission to collect the rest. Powerful objects being stolen or going missing would be enough to alert Callum and Ezran in Katolis that something weird is going on, and Callum is currently the human with the best understanding of primal magic, so that could be a plot element. As well, it could be that one of each kind of Primal Source is needed alongside Aaravos’ cube is needed to be in a certain spot to free him, a kind of carefully constructed cosmic checkmate, if you will.

The month timeline is particularly interesting because a shot from 4x01 of Callum and his mage wings (when he falsely thinks Ez is in danger on his 17th birthday, and Viren’s re-birthday) is a waxing gibbous. So rather than moving towards a full moon, it’s heading towards a New Moon. 

The New Moon is commonly known as a time to initiate beginnings. Something to also be mindful of is that when the new Moon occurs, it not only begins a new cycle, but also ends the phase that came before (1). This would perfectly fit with Aaravos’ return / breaking out of the mirror ending the previous world of peace and kicking off the era the characters currently live in, which is canonically known as the Return of Aaravos (SDCC 2019). 

The real question is whether Claudia’s month timeline will cover one season, or like how S1-S3 was a month, it will cover the entire Arc 2 timeline. I lean towards a just one or two season timeline for a few reasons, by which I mean: her deadline is completed by the end of S4 or the end of S5. The deadline feels vaguely reminiscent of Rayla’s binding, established in S1 and concluded by the end of the season, for example, especially since S1-S3 never had any such timeline (we comparatively didn’t learn Zubeia was dying until 3x04, for example). So this one is the most likely to me.

Additionally, I could see it stretching out to S5, but I feel that Aaravos must be out of the mirror by the end of S5, so that S6 can have the trio and co. work together to try to bring him down and fail spectacularly. They can’t win the first time they try, so I think it’d be difficult to have them lose say halfway through the final season, and then have them try again very shortly afterwards and succeed. This would also mean that S6 ends in typical three act structure with the second act ending horribly to set up a triumph for the third (as opposed to a tragic structure, where the hero wins the second battle for loses the finale).

The other driving forces seem to be 1) Callum’s interest in the mirror, perhaps to fulfil Harrow’s letter and/or take his mind off Rayla, which will subsequently aid in our understanding of Aaravos as we go along and learn his history with Callum as an audience conduit / detective 2) Xadian and pentarchy politics. This fulfils both Ezran’s side of things (not all humans will want peace, King Ahling might still resent the death of his son, etc) and Janai. Her engagement to Amaya may be the final straw for her more traditional brother, or other Sunfire elves of the Six Horns. This could lead to a rift between Sunfire elves and a short conflict of the throne furthered by Sol Regem, although I do think Janai and Karim’s relationship will be repaired and have a happy ending (with some nice setup / parallels for Soren and Claudia’s getting there someday, too).

Unexpected Angles

Claudia and Terry’s relationship was the last thing I expected, but I’m already won over and curious about where their relationship will go. Judging by his first clip, how he meets Viren, and that he’s there when she does the resurrection spell, Terry is totally okay with dark magic even though he’s an elf. That’s a perspective we haven’t seen before from anyone but Aaravos, so I’m excited to see where Terry fits in morally even amid his adorable, charming personality.

However, this also means Claudia has three relationships to ponder: her and her Dad, her and Aaravos, and her and Terry. It’s already been heavily implied / basically confirmed that she’ll be under Aaravos’ greater tutelage for a bit. Now, this is more of a headcanon than anything, but I always figured Claudia would have a very hard time breaking off or dealing with the end of a romantic relationship of any kind, as it would remind her of her parents’ divorce. If Terry does begin to see dark magic in a worse light, and Claudia does not, how will she handle (or rather, not handle) that kind of distance happening again in another relationship? Just food for thought.

The Season Breakdown and Callum’s Path

As we know, every season of TDP is roughly broken down into three sets of three arcs per season, most plainly seen in season one. 1x01-1x03 is the castle arc, 2x07-2x09 is a continuous journey for ex, etc. This is a little harder in season three since there’s so much going on, but it can be down by following Callum and Rayla’s journey trajectory: 3x01-3x03 is pre-Silvergrove, 3x04-3x06 is romance and reckoning with the past, 3x07-3x09 all take place at the Spire, etc.

Therefore, I think a rough season breakdown for S4 could have similar stuff. 4x01-4x03 might be a lot of political set up, with something perhaps inspiring Callum to leave Katolis, whether it’s on his brother’s business or chasing his own desires. As people have noted, Callum isn’t wearing his scarf while he’s serving as High Mage in the first clip of S4, but he does have it in the “Aaravos as Puppetmaster” promo art, tethered to string the same way Claudia and Viren are.

Perhaps the donning of the scarf around 4x03 signifies a choice or decision that will impact him for the rest of the season (and arc by extension). This would be a nice parallel to 1x03 with the Zym mission, and how much 1x01 and 4x01 parallel each other. 4x01 ends up with Callum being upset/possibly angry over thinking Ez was in danger, and ends with him being quite upset over the anniversary of Rayla leaving, dejected and ashamed, similar to how he blew up at Ezran in 1x01 over his fear of losing Harrow, and then slumped to the ground disappointed. 

The arc set up could also fit nicely, as Claudia has an Earth arcanum with her (Terry could at least hold the cube, if that’s enough) and Sun staff. Rayla may end up being the Moon arcanum if she does run into the trio, and they’re a lot more powerful than expected even without Aaravos (who’s something else on his own). That leaves Ocean and Sky and possibly Star, fitting nicely into one every three episodes, or something along those lines.

Cube Hostage Exchange Theory

Although modified, now that Callum hasn’t gone after Rayla (possibly just not yet), I still think my Cube Hostage Exchange Theory continues to hold merit as well, a theory. (Extended tag here for any who are interested.) Basically: Rayla is captured by Viren, Claudia, and Aaravos. Possibly just as a hostage, possibly as bait, or even — if we harken back to “Claudia needs ingredients, particually the Moon as Aaravos has been lowkey Ghosted x1000” — as the intended ingredient for the Moon arcanum.

Then, according to the theory, Callum (and possibly others) will show up to save her / trade something Valuable for her. It could be Callum, if he’s connected to the Moon arcanum, but I lean more towards the Cube. It already holds weight as a present from Harrow, but would be very full circle: Rayla risking her life in 1x04 to get it for him and being taken hostage by Amaya, only for him to now sacrifice the cube (and put the world at risk too) to save her from a hostage situation.  

I could see Ezran and Callum (and possibly Soren by extension) coming to save her, I could see it being Callum, with them and Rayla escaping, and/or him and Rayla are both taken hostage in the end and S5 is them trying to escape. Either way gives time for Claudia to confront her old friend and her old enemy, and time for Rayla to unlock the secret of what Viren’s coins hold. 

Aaravos: “Those who fail tests of love are simple animals. They deserve to be motivated by fear.”

Other Misc Thoughts

I wouldn’t be surprised if 4x02 is a flashback heavy ep in terms of giving the audience context for when/why Rayla left, as 4x01 confirms that she’s gone but doesn’t seem to say why or for what. I think it could be really cool to see some Janaya flashbacks here as well as maybe an interspersed Claudia narrative, as Rayla and Claudia have quite a strong foils relationship. Then perhaps another flashback heavy episode (as TDP always tends to have 2ish per season) that focuses more on Aaravos’ history, so we can know more about why he’s bad news before he gets out of the mirror if it is by the end of S4.

I think perhaps Claudia will send Terry to distract / lead Callum astray, but the two dorky, seemingly similar-ish boys will bond instead, and Terry’s persepctive will perhaps change. I’m also very excited to see what Soren thinks of Terry once he realizes this is Claudia’s new boyfriend and all the emotions that brings: happiness someone is looking after his sister, fear and resentment at what she’s become, reservations that she has some ‘random’ boyfriend, etc.

And I think that’s it, Conclusion wise? More theories and such may trickle as we go along, and I have some non distinct thoughts marinating (Soren and Viren’s relationship, possible Ezran-Callum Harrow-Viren parallels being pushed further esp in early S4, etc) that I may post as I go along, but for now, these are the big ones!

So now let me hear from you: agree, disagree, want to take a theory and run with it? Let me know in the replies, reblogs, and/or in my inbox, I’d love to hear ‘em!

[raayllum]

like maybe it’s late and maybe i’m tired but it is truly fucking exhausting, sometimes, to see the way parts of the fandom discuss something as emotionally rich and nuanced and selfish and tragic as TTM. and i could talk about lujanne in that comic, or callum, or rayla, but rayla is the one that people misunderstand the most bc... people are teenagers and Dumb, i suppose??

like, literally every part of rayla’s character led up to her decision at the end. literally every single notable, character defining scene and relationship in her life, particularly with her family.

runaan leaves ethari at home and takes rayla off the mission. rayla sees ethari survive and she is the only one of her troupe to survive, ergo, leaving callum at home and taking him off the mission will ensure his survival. that is, quite literally, a Surface level reading of the text. that’s not even getting into how tdp is about trauma and grief and how ttm just enforces that tenfold.

it’s not even talking about how rayla has been Left so many times she’s developed the obvious coping mechanism of leaving first. that she struggles so hard in believing that other people actually need her. she thinks callum can complete her mission without her (“just keep [the egg] safe” in 1x03, “if i don’t come back, you and ezran can get zym to xadia” in 2x07, “you and ezran should take zym, but i can’t leave” in 3x08) but she doesn’t feel the same way: “because i don’t think i can do it without him.” how their relationship has evolved from rayla realizing she can depend on him to saying it’s okay if he can’t help her because she values him beyond what he can do to her telling him not to come with her because she can’t handle more loss.

how rayla has broken both her word stated in bloodmoon huntress, that she would never kill anyone or leave someone she loved behind, showing that she’s surely already going to rapidly change over the course of the novel. at the end of s3, she fulfils her mission by killing the king of katolis - and simultaneously fails again, just like in 1x01 by sparing marcos, because viren isn’t actually dead, and in her mind, it’s her fault. “you let him live” and “you killed us all” are deeply connected.

that her self loathing issues have been evident since 1x09 (“this is all my fault [...] i let you both down. i let the world done”) which is why 3x04 repeats this almost word for word: “it’s me, and it’s all my fault. i failed them. i let them all down” and how even saving zym, both times, by going nearly off or actually off a cliff wasn’t enough to soothe her core wound. that her self loathing directly feeds into her belief that there’s something fundamentally wrong with her (“i’m sure it would’ve flopped when it was my turn”), that she will always lose people because of it (“i can’t lose you like this”), that the guilt and restlessness she carries around is something she has never been able to entirely put down. that she’s cracked and so far gone that she won’t believe she’s ever Paid the Price enough until she isn’t just already dead, but actually dead. because it’s her fault if viren is alive and if viren is alive he’ll hurt callum, and in her mind, that will be on her. it’s all her fault. of course it’s her responsibility to make it right. (it always is).

that her last words to callum are “just... remember me, okay?” and leaving a letter in TTM because in her mind, her parents forgot her when they left and forgot their duty, because runaan and ethari forgot their love for her when they turned their backs on her, because she is terrified of being left, she is terrified of being forgotten, again, of having another person she loves die and be ruined.

because rayla is working from a fundamentally flawed viewpoint where she moves, and grows, becoming more emotionally open, understanding what she wants to fight for and protect, because she is so much like runaan it hurts (aka exactly where she got her “i bear it so my loved ones don’t have to”) but even amongst all that growth, she’s still trapped in the same cycles. she’s still repeating history.

it’s the way i’ve been waiting for this sort of plot beat since s2 and see the way that 1x02 and TTM perfectly parallel each other with rayla trying to ultimately spare callum’s life, and “i’m sorry. i have to do this. i don’t want to, but i have to,” because when has what she’s wanted - what makes her happy, what keeps her safe - ever truly mattered in a life wrapped up in war and grief? (“it doesn’t matter what happens to me”)

when will she get to choose to Stay and not feel like the floor is going to fall out from under her, again

[raayllum]

That last ask made me wonder: what’s Kasef’s narrative function in the story? Like how Claudia is often used to show the dangers of apathy and social stagnation, what does Kasef bring to the table in the Dragon Prince? What themes does his character illustrate?

Kasef is a character archetype I saw coming following the end of s2, since I figured that Ezran would need some sort of opposition other than Viren to his goals, at least for the first half of the season. Whether that would come from another human kingdom, or within his own council (turns out it was both!) I assumed we’d get a more minor antagonist who could reliably challenge the young king. I think that’s Kasef’s primary function from a plot standpoint.

From a thematic / narrative one, he’s there to foil Claudia, Soren, and Ezran, (somewhat Callum) and to show that the younger generation isn’t impervious to perpetuating the cycle. Let’s break that down quickly in order.

Kasef, like Claudia and Soren, is bound to his role in his father’s footsteps. He ultimately participates in self-destructive behaviour, and dies with possible full or limited sentience due to the spell. He is a cautionary sign to what Soren could become if he doesn’t leave and what Claudia largely does by the end of season three.

(AKA what sons will do for / to their fathers)

Kasef is a reflection of Ezran. He is a young king, only nineteen, coming to power after the assassination of his father. But Kasef’s grief is ‘artificial’ compared to Ezran’s, as Ezran’s father is actually dead and was actually killed (as far as we know) by Moonshadow assassins. Kasef’s father, King Ahling, is not actually dead, just injured, and we know his death was fully orchestrated by shadowy Moonshadow assassins conjured by Viren. Kasef occupies the same position as Ezran, but he is also nothing like Ezran.

Furthermore, side note for Callum: Kasef is very much everything a prince should be - a good warrior, headstrong, clever and able to manipulate situations politically to get what he wants. An arrogant, crueller version of Soren. Callum rejects all this emotionally while keeping the good sides. It leaves him vulnerable to Kasef’s attack, but it leaves him narratively “worthy” of being saved from him, too.

Before Kasef, every young character we’ve met has broken the cycle. The main trio all actively work towards it, even if Rayla takes a few episodes more to get on board than the princes. Ellis is one of their first allies. Aanya refuses Viren’s deal (and Kasef responds to war with even more gusto than any of the former four leaders of the Pentarchy). Soren and Claudia, particularly the former, rest on the fence throughout most of season two. In 3x02, we’re not quite sure where they’ll stand. 

Enter Kasef. He’s not only opposed to all of the characters around his age or younger, but is committed to it. He doesn’t back down and instead readily boxes in Ezran, gladly marches into Xadia, and gambles his life first for Viren’s “gift.” Kasef, in my opinion, is a sign of things to come, particularly for Ezran’s political plotlines going forward. So while Kasef’s death is a cautionary thing, it’s also a tragedy, narrowly mirrored and avoided by Rayla in 3x08, of charging headfirst at your own death because you’re still entrenched in the Cycle, and it’s just going to keep causing pain, loss, and violence. 

The weight of prejudice and history, of the Cycle, is not so easily erased from the world, even in the youth. Kasef just fell prey to it. Hopefully his father and younger sibling will not.

[beautifulterriblequeen]

Breaking and unmaking

I’m stretching my Druids -> Assassins headcanon a little further today. 

So far, I’m enjoying the epic angst that comes with assassins being blood-promise-bound to their duty for the last 1000 years, because the Oath of Féanor is one of my favorite disasters from the Silmarillion. But that means that even if Runaan is freed from his coin prison, he’s still bound to his duty. He’s not free enough yet.

S4 and S5 were hinted to contain some history to help give us a better look at exactly how everyone got to where they are in the present day. I know I’ve posted about hoping that Janai and Amaya work together to find out the Orphan Queen’s/Queen Aditi’s/Harrow’s ancestor’s secrets. I don’t have a strong opinion on how that all plays out, but I would love to watch them work together and learn stuff!

So, what if we get something like this for teaching us Moonshadow history: Rayla does find Runaan’s coin, but with his arm still bound, and him bound to his blood promise (maybe the same thing, maybe not), if he’s released, he’ll die. She can free Lain and Tiadrin--if she and Callum can learn how to--because her parents are not bound by a failed mission the way Runaan is, even if they are/were assassins and did give the Dragon Queen a blood promise, too. This will leave Runaan as the only elf trapped beyond reach.

Gosh, that seems familiar....

Okay, so this is Rayla we’re talking about. She just crossed half the continent to return a baby dragon during an actual war. If she realizes that Runaan is either going to 1) be trapped forever or 2) die if he’s freed, which will she want to pick?

Door #3. Runaan might be fatalistic enough to accept freedom just so he can die in Ethari’s arms, but Ethari wouldn’t want that if there were another way, and neither would Rayla. So: Rayla’s gonna rip up the 1000-year-old blood promise. And that means first learning the full history of the Moonshadow elves because someone didn’t pay attention in history class! which might be partly classified, partly lost, and partly hidden. Moonshadows be like. She’d quest as far as she needed to in order to save Runaan, but see... this quest isn’t just for him anymore. If all the assassins in the Moonshadow Forest are bound to this blood promise the way that he is, then none of them have ever truly been free. Maybe this is how Rayla saves her people, in a way Runaan never could.

She’s a hero, and that’s what heroes do. They save people. People.

But maybe she won’t be breaking that promise, exactly... maybe she can just unwrite it somehow. Balance it out. I’m not sure what that would look like, but it could take three very special components that were present during the initial oathmaking: 1) the blood of a Moonshadow assassin: Rayla. She keeps calling herself an assassin. Might be a clan thing, not a matter of actually taking a life?

2) the Moon Archdragon Luna Tenebris. Please let Rayla go on a dragon quest! lhfksdfhihfis That would be the coolest thing ever! Why haven’t we heard a peep out of Luna Tenebris, or even learned if she’s still alive or not? She’s definitely important somehow. Her reign lasted from the division of Xadia--aka the Merciful Compromise that split the land--until the Fallen Star. Those are some serious bookends.

3) a Moon primal stone. You’ve noticed that there are two different Moon primal staffs. The gathering from 1000 years ago, before the Border was carved, shows a Moonshadow elf holding a staff shaped like a shillelagh--a traditional druidic weapon.

But 300 years ago the leading Moonshadow elf has a different staff. Taller, more commanding, bearing a big stylized Moon rune, and looking a lot like Runaan’s chest marking, handle and all. Instead of a shillelagh, this staff resembles a sickle--another druidic handheld. Its larger cousin is a scythe.

Did they rework the staff? Possibly. If so, it’s probably to reflect the Moonshadow elves’ change in status, moving eastward and joining the Sunfire elves in active defense of Right Xadia,

But maybe that first primal stone is busy spinning some very big spells. I have two guesses what they might be, and there’s no reason they can’t both be going at the same time. ahaha Moonshadow duality Maybe it’s running the blood promise that binds all of the assassins to their word on pain of death. Maybe it’s running Aaravos’s ghost program on a dedicated primal server.

Maybe breaking the blood promise will break the mirror spell on Aaravos’s prison. Wouldn’t that be interesting! Rayla having to choose to free everyone, or no one.

tl;dr: Maybe the Moonshadow elves we see today aren’t quite the heartless monsters we’ve kinda been suspecting, insta-ghosting each other and hating humans and all. Maybe they’re victims of their ancestors’ oath, just in a different way than the humans the assassins take. And if the blood promise can be undone, then they can all be free again. No more assassins, no more killings.

And now for the angsty side:

Ir Rayla’s questing to make it safe for Runaan to return to the world of the living, that means Runaan’s gotta stay in the coin until it’s safe to come out. 

Ughhhh. If something like this has to happen, and if it does mean Runaan and Ethari can’t kiss and reunite properly, then I really hope they can talk somehow, and that Runaan can at least tell everyone what he knows and all his thoughts and anything important he wants to say. In fact, I would like it if he couldn’t shut up for a while. He can’t use his Moonshadow stealth language and just touch people from inside the coin, so he’s gotta use that lovely voice. Aww. Can you imagine Ethari curled up with his precious coin in his fingers and Runaan’s just spilling his heart to him? Fifteen or twenty years of words that he’s saved up, spilling out in case things don’t work out and they don’t get another chance? God. 

And some further angst that I realized had to go along with this headcanon: if Lain and Tiadrin swore the blood promise too, it makes a little more sense why they’d go to the Storm Spire to guard Zym’s egg. Devon said in the Deluxe Elf Interview that little Rayla couldn’t understand how parents would have a bigger priority than her, and yeah, that’s rough. But if it’s a sacred blood promise that’s holding them... they kinda can’t say no. And if the blood promise takes you out if you fail in your duty... well. That explains Runaan’s emotional lockdown, yeah?

He thought Lain and Tiadrin had run... and then perished. He thought they were dead. His dearest friends. Their honor and their lives, gone in one fell swoop. It caught him completely off guard because he trusted them so much. No wonder he got all eyeshimmery when he saw them in the coin. They were alive! Yay! And they were trapped! Boo! And they never broke their promise! Yay! And the village ghosted them for no reason! Boo!

Speaking of the village... if the assassins uphold the honor of the whole Moonshadow race by serving the dragons according to their oath--if the whole Moonshadow identity of stoic service is tied up in that blood promise--then of course the village ghosted Lain and Tiadrin. The sacred oath guides their entire culture, their values, it dominates their history. They’d yeet themselves as far away from such a breach of the ancient trust as they could. They all wanna be the Sworn, never the Forsworn.

They’d ghost Rayla too, not because she’d sworn the oath and then failed it--since she probably hasn’t made any blood oaths yet--but because not breaking the blood promise is so vital to who Moonshadows are, and Rayla ran away on a mission to take a dangerous human. That’s the entire purpose of the assassins according to the blood promise: Spare the humans’ lives, and then be responsible to correct every misstep they make from that point forward. An endless oath of guardianship that can outlive its usefulness and become downright dangerous and chaotic with changing times.

Dude, I’d really like to see Rayla unmake that promise somehow, save Runaan, and save her entire people from a good faith vow they made for the very best of reasons, far too long ago. And I’m loving the idea that she’d kill Viren, and then free Aaravos. Such a chaos child, I love her.