#and especially link to the moon arcanum

[parroset]

Flowers of Elarion

Here's my interpretation on Aaravos with some flowers of Elarion (in glow pens because it's fun). I based them off of hyacinths for several reasons:

1. Hyacinths are my favorite flowers

2. Hyacinths smell AMAZING, and Tales of Xadia states that flowers of Elarion "have a scent that can soothe the most ragged spirit":

3. In flower language, hyacinths can symbolize jealousy, desire for forgiveness, and sincerity, among other things:

To me, this fits Lasair's story well. Leaving behind a flower as a gift as a way of asking for forgiveness for what they've stolen gives the gesture a bit more meaning. The sincerity/jealousy not only represents duality (a theme that is prevalent within the flowers of Elarion story) but also represents Lasair's feelings of jealousy for humans, who have enough to survive and don't need to steal, and the sincere desire for friendship and forgiveness.

I just think they're neat.

[darkmagicmirror]

I've been thinking about @spicyviren 's post about Claudia preventing the sun from rising (and they made a more in-depth post today as well, which is also very good!), so last night I got curious and Googled mythology and eclipses because what if the eclipse actually happens and it's not just Viren's dream? And we know TDP likes mythological references. So...

This is so fascinating because of the "I swallowed her" comment Aaravos makes in Janai's dream.

A demon (or dragon, or-- (etc)) is eating the sun?

(*Personally, I don't think Janai's dream is necessarily accurate for telling us what happened -- but Aditi getting "eaten" by someone especially a dragon wouldn't surprise me.)

And speaking of "swallowing"...

And some of the other mythological explanations mentioned in the article I linked are also really interesting:

(The highlighting was done by Google, so it's not necessarily more important.)

And canon material, especially the Ripples short specifically, reflects a few themes here:

Abandonment - the humans are essentially abandoned by the stars (and the sun is a star): "It cannot be, wept others. The stars would not betray us!" - after the "star" falls from the sky and changes the land.

Crisis/existential threat - "With its impact came a long and terrible night: The earth bled! The seas churned! The sun and moon hid for weeks behind the sky’s screaming storm!" (Also bolded for emphasis because the sun hiding? The fact the moon does too is interesting, but the sun specifically is called out later: "And when the long, dark night had finally passed—for the sun must always rise, mustn’t it?" VERY interesting considering the sunrise mentions in S5.)

Eclipse as an act of creation - though much of the story talks about the calamity, there's also how "[the stars] had rejoiced to look down upon their newborn sea."

The Sun and Moon coupling and creating more stars - this is more of a stretch, but the Sun and Moon did get hidden together, and the Sea (of the Castout) serving as a mirror of the stars... like they're duplicating the stars, though only in image.

Mischievous acts - I personally think Aaravos is mischievous, so hmm.

One side note on the second-to-last point: if Viren learns the Star arcanum, which is very rarely understood, could that, too, be analogous to creating another star?

Anyway this all implies that perhaps a similar eclipse occurred before, when Aaravos had fallen and the Sea of the Castout was created? And we know how the Rise Again short story, which is about her pseudo-resurrection of her pet cat, correlated to S4 opening with Claudia having brought her father back to life, sort of in a repeating history sense. Aaravos's Patience story foreshadowed the fact that all he could do in S4 is wait and bide his time. Ripples could foreshadow S5 being that first "touch" that sets off greater change... and, like with the resurrection, perhaps history repeating itself, in a sense, with a potential upcoming eclipse?

And another interesting line: "The sky opened its maw and spat from its black jaws a tiny star."

It's not exactly black, but I know some people say the ridges here look like teeth...

Also, even though Sol is referring to his blindness, these lines about the Sun "never [rising] again" and an "eternal night" fit into similar themes to the eclipse and the Ripples short.

Also, just going back to the abandonment theme of the eclipse really quick--

The Midnight Star poem also talks about the stars abandoning humanity. "Elarion, unworthy whelp, / Wept as the stars turned black the sky, / They donned their masks / They turned their backs / And left Elarion to die."

(I have more to break down about that entire stanza in another post; I just want to point out the bolded parts for now.)

Now, most of these are references to the past... so what about now?

If I were to guess on how the same themes I compared to the Ripples story might apply to "current" series events...

Abandonment - Claudia feeling abandoned by Aaravos (as mentioned in the Lost Child short)? Or, alternately, Aaravos feeling abandoned (by either Claudia, after she had to flee from the battle, and/or Viren, after his rejection)?

Crisis/existential threat - IMO the biggest threat is Karim potentially joining up with Sol Regem right now. Though some would say Aaravos being close to being freed could be the threat/crisis here. But I'm an Aaravos apologist, so I am not part of that group LOL

Eclipse as an act of creation - Claudia regenerates her missing leg, perhaps?

The Sun and Moon coupling and creating more stars - Viren Star arcanum?

Mischievous acts - Aaravos again.

All of this to say-- I don't think the eclipse is just for show/because it looks cool, but if we consider the mythological beliefs surrounding eclipses, it ties in significantly to the story.

Also I leave you with a few last bits from the article that just remind me of TDP things:

"In many cultures, the darkening of the sun meant the gods were very, very angry with humanity, and about to inflict some punishment. Often, that meant that in order to appease them, you had to kill someone."

That reminds me of the stars seeming to punish humanity for daring to use magic... which is also when Aaravos gets cast down?

"The Greeks thought an eclipse meant that the gods were about to rain punishment down on a king, so in the days before an eclipse, they would choose prisoners or peasants to stand in as the king in the hopes that they’d get the eclipse punishment and the real king would be saved. Once the eclipse was over, the substitute king was executed."

This is so far off, but it reminds me of Harrow anyway? Mostly with the soulfang serpent idea of switching Harrow with someone else. Interesting.

"For the Inuits, the sun and moon weren’t a married couple but brother and sister. At the beginning of the world they quarreled, and the sun goddess Malina walked away from her brother, the moon god Anningan. Anningan continued to chase after her, and whenever he caught up to her, there was an eclipse."

Which reminds me of the line in Strangers, the short from Soren's perspective, where "Claudia had appeared and he’d done it again, a little boy chasing after his sister..."

A lot of it is probably coincidence, but it's still really interesting!

[raayllum]

Hey! I was wondering what your thoughts are on Viren's dark magic dreams (your posts on plot points are always really interesting to read, so I'd love to hear your opinion!)

Especially in perspective with Callum's dark magic dream. Callum and Viren have close arcs and I'm sure their dreams must have some linking ideas (like the door/key?)

First of all, thank you for your kind words and sorry this ask is so late!! I will do my best to answer <3

Viren's dark magic dreams are tricky since some of them reference things (specifically Kpp'Ar and Soren's illness) that we just don't have total context for, largely:

Why and how, exactly, Soren became ill. If it was a randomized illness, as sometimes unfortunately happens, vs Soren got sick because of exposure to dark magic or something adjacent to it, those will paint Viren's desperation/decisions to save him in very different lights accordingly (both sympathetic, I think, but the latter concept adds to the idea that the bloodprice will just keep growing, y'know? Unintended consequences and all that)

On that note, what, exactly, Viren did to save him, although I have my theories here regarding what ingredient might've been crucial, and why I think star magic was involved.

Potential (likely) differences between dream/nightmare Kpp'Ar vs real life Kpp'Ar, as we see the way both Viren's wish fulfilment and guilt twists the scene he shares with Harrow. And of course what Viren wanted to do that was so terrible Kpp'Ar 1) revoked dark magic, 2) couldn't justify and 3) got in Viren's way enough that Viren coined him.

The rest of the dreams are, I think, overall, fairly straight forward, mostly because we have the context to decode them:

Harrow scene because that was the main relationship at the time keeping Viren on remotely the 'right' path and the deterioration of it clearly devastated him. Also ties into Viren's S4 + S5 arc of realizing he wants to, and should have, prioritized meaningful relationships > power and status when it came to how he wanted to matter

The twin peaks reference scenes are well, references, as well as exploring Viren's wish fulfilment (Kpp'Ar as his high mage, Viren as king) but also how that pursuit for power destroyed him, hence why he's only free once he removes and throws off the crown

The Claudia scenes are about his fear and regret regarding what his death and Aaravos has forced Claudia into becoming, as well as the path Viren was leading her down for much longer, bringing the idea of "She is not an asset, she is my daughter" and his nightmare memory of it from S4 nicely and tragically to fruition

Viren speaking with his past self through the mirror re-contextualizes why he was so confident it was Important, object wise, and serves to spell certain things out for us as an audience (ideas of paths and choices and freedoms)

There aren't a ton but there are some parallels between his and Callum's dreams (because you'd have to purposefully try to find something they don't have something parallels wise on show wise, at this point) in as follows

The most obvious is the conversations with their mirror selves.

For Callum this is a reflection void of the mirror, and for Viren, this is a reflection in the mirror (whether his past or present self is the one imprisoned could go either way). For present Viren, he's the corrupted one, who has to acknowledge his younger, less corrupted self, as well as that he had more agency than he wanted to admit. For Callum, he rejected his corrupted self, but obviously S5 both complicated and pulled on that set up (2x08 dark magic Callum's rune cube displaying the Ocean and Moon runes most prominantly, and Callum did dark magic in S5 ocean for his moon gf / doing dark magic again and the emotional journey there let him understand the ocean arcanum)

This is also juxtaposed with Callum's dreams about the dark magic being in confronting what he's done VS Viren's dreams being about confronting what he's done, yes - but mostly about confronting his justifications for what he did, which is an interesting difference, I think.

The drowning / water as danger parallel, only Viren literally sinks through water and is trying to save someone else (Claudia) from drowning vs Callum himself was metaphorically to literally drowning

Being guided by the dead in a lot of ways, since for Callum he has both of his parents (outside of Villads) and Viren is forced to confront people he's driven away (Kpp'Ar / Soren), versions of people that no longer exist (young Soren and Harrow) if they ever did, and Claudia carrying on his path to become a walking corpse (because dark magic in a lot of ways equals death)

The keys vs doors, for sure, although Callum is more overtly tethered to freedom through the keys / Harrow's chains, whereas with Viren it's a bit more metaphorical (he clasps his wrist in 5x03 in a similar manner that Callum does later to mimic chains in 5x08) and through dialogue mostly than dialogue and symbolism

This is super random but the tree when Viren is having his nice scene with young Soren always stands out to me as well, mostly cause it doesn't need to be there, and makes me think of the tree Claudia nearly walks into in 1x01 / the tree on the star chart map but like. Super vague and probably nothing? Still a thought though <3

If you're interested in more Callum-Viren post-S5 thoughts, I'd recommend these posts: What did Viren and what does Callum want?, How Callum and Viren sacrifice (written post-S4 but updated with S5 screencaps), Why ramp up the foiling? and general celebration that they are, indeed, switching foils, which is exactly what I was hoping for / banking on

[possumdrawsstuff]

Tdp shower thoughts (from your local callum enthusiast)

LOWKEY think he’s (callum) gonna be more sarcastic in this season and I’m living for it.

ezran is old??? Like , he’s 12 why is he so tall???

Soren becoming an older brother figure to callum please that boy needs a found family

I’m kinda confused where the writers are going with the whole viren and callum parallels but I don’t want anything bad to happen though it will.

arravos key????

idc about “cute wholesome rayllum reunion” ya we can have a cute “I’m so glad your ok” after seeing each other again but I want some “you left me!”s and the “I had to!”, just all the angst.

rayllum went from enemies to friends? To friends. To friends! To maybe more?? To yea more! To unplanned breakup bcus “I need to protect you” to friends??? To lovers

If the credits are callums sketches does he just have omnipotent sight of all the plot lines cuz there’s so many sketches in there of stuff he hasn’t seen???

I jusT really want some main character to die this season.

CALLUM AND CLAUDIA, THE TWO TRAUMATIZED C NAMES WITH LINKS TO CREEPY STARBUG MAN REUNION

I want attempted murder???

if callum ever gets like that “possessed “ thing w aravos where virens eyes went all rainbow he’d just look like beast Wirt without horns. Especially with his old clothes.

JUST REMEMBERED THAT THNG I REALIZED EARLIER

Okokok , when viren said that spell with the unicorn horn and stuffed it into sarais spear he said some backwards speaky spooky thing which went like Yadda, something, something love and loss , yadda yadda. (Go search it up) the new song for tdp s4 we just got is called “a song of love and loss” so smthin to do with that???

I really wanna see angus again haha

Anybody gonna think up amazing angst potential for callum finding ruunannabeth (I can’t spell his name) his sword bow thingy (aka the thing that killed his dad ) no? Just me? how is arravos getting these little chess pieces , he’s got one of viren, callum, and elderly dark magic guy that looked LOWKEY like snape and blinded angry sun dragon grandpa. Does he magically make the chess pieces or does he like sculpt them. ???

Arron e has said something about him emotionally shutting off some parts of himself and pouring all his energy into ithers so I’m 100% sure we’re gonna get the “oh no callums studying magic and doing arravos stuff instead if sleeping “ plot line.

Ik everybody is like “well obviously he’s gonna learn all the arcanum’s “and he kinda wants to learn moon next obviously, I kinda wanna see him master fire. Nothing to do with his character , I just like the concept of being able to set anything aflame at any possible moment.

can he get hit by lightning and not die. That would be so funny. He’s just outside in the rain med sentence and gets struck. He’s just covered and soot and starts coughing like a kindergartener

@raayllum thx for reposting my art haha I love your stuff bcus it usually makes me exhale outta my nose.

[blutopaz15]

Flufftober: Oct 5

Watching the Sunrise

I think maybe I tried to squeeze a little too much into this one? But my goal is writing/posting without overthinking too much, so here it is! It's vaguely set post-ttm, so a little dusting of angst is inevitable, haha

NOTES: rated t for some mild suggestive content if you squint, ~800 words

ao3 link

Rayla dragged her fingers along Callum’s scalp lazily, combing his hair out of his eyes and watching the lightening sky brighten them to a sharper green, revelling in the afterglow of having spent the night so...happy.

For the first time since she’d left, spending time with him had been just...illusion-free: no pretending, no hidden hurting, no tears. Just fooling around under the full moon, laughing and kissing and loving each other.

She wasn’t exactly tired and didn’t think he was either, but there was always this...lull when day broke. The full moon would be plenty to keep her—and him now too, she figured—going even better than normal all day, but the difference that came with the moonlight dimming and the sun rising was definitely noticeable.

“So,” she started, feeling the restlessness that always stuck with her on full moons fading, “how’d it feel?”

She knew very well the answer, but she also knew that Callum would be so eager to share given the slightest invitation, so…her asking would be a treat for both of them, really.

Not that he’d needed an invitation to talk about the moon lately.

Callum figuring out a second arcanum—her arcanum—had already meant a whole lot of listening as he waxed poetic about illusions and perception and love and truth and…a whole lot of stuff she’d never really been inclined to actually think about, even if Callum said that she was the reason he’d finally understood all of it all. She tried, for his sake, to do more than nod along while he rambled, but she definitely still didn’t really have patience for all of the moon-magic mumbo-jumbo that’d he’d only become more enamored with over the past couple of weeks.

Callum, though…she had infinite patience for Callum.

How could she not, given…everything?

He looked up at her thoughtfully, squinting in a way that was way more dorky and dramatic than entirely necessary, and she knew she was in for it. For all his philosophizing about the “meaning of the moon” compared to the “power of sky” in the days leading up to his first full moon since, he’d said surprisingly little all night about the actual feeling of being out here in the full moon light all night.

Of course…she had kept him pretty distracted.

A drawn-out hum came with the little smirk on Callum’s lips as he answered her.

“You know…the whole ‘ting’ thing?” Callum deserved the flick square on his nose, especially for mimicking the exaggerated salute she’d done trying to cheer him up all those months ago. He pouted and rubbed at the spot. “Hey!”

She glared fondly down at his head still resting in her lap. “I’m familiar.”

“Well…it’s pretty accurate, I think, even if I couldn’t get it to work right.” Callum shrugged and then sighed.

Even with the moon high and bright in the sky, he hadn’t been able to get even a flicker of a Moonshadow form going. It was definitely possible, they’d decided—if a human mage could sprout wings and fly, then why couldn’t he turn invisible?—but…no luck.

“Eh, don’t beat yourself up,” Rayla said, reassuring him with a squeeze at his hands, slack and resting on his belly. “It’s not even fun anyway. Makes me all dizzy and nauseous. Besides…it’s like the wings. Not easy. I know we’re approaching your two-week threshold for ‘rare and fantastical magical feats’ here, but…you’ll figure it out. You always do.“

Something about that pep talk...hadn’t landed.

“I had some pretty good motivation last time,” Callum muttered, not meeting her eyes any more.

Ah.

It wasn’t that they didn’t talk about the leap—it wasn’t a hard and fast rule, at least, like the oasis was—but they’d been so free of all of the heavy stuff all night, like they hadn’t been since he’d brought her back here to Katolis. It’d always been there, of course, but she’d liked the illusion that it wasn’t and...wanted to stay in it.

“Don’t.” She laid her hand on his face, thumbing his cheek gently. “Please?”

Callum winced when he looked back up, but then seemed to swallow down her plea, and then—like a switch had flipped—it was clear that he understood.

“Didn’t mean to get all…feelings-y.” He reached up and stroked her cheek, soft and sweet, with just a hint of unnecessary apology in his eyes.

“Feelings aren’t the problem—”

Callum scoffed gently, more amused than bothered.

“Since when?”

She paused to glare again. He wasn’t wrong.

“Bad feelings are the problem,” she explained, as if he didn’t know that. She pulled her knees—and Callum—up, leaning to meet his lips halfway. “I like good feelings.”

“Me—me too.” The words brushed against her lips,

“So...just good feelings?” Rayla took in the morning light that’d almost fully taken over the sky, circling back to wanting the illusions that hadn’t felt like illusions all night. “For a while longer?”

Callum whispered, agreeing while his lips and his body and his hands found her again. “For a while longer.”

[forever-animated]

Rayllum Reunion in S4

Ever since Through the Moon came out, there’s been a lot of discussion in the TDP fandom about when Callum and Rayla will reunite and what that will look like. Even before the AMA (where Ehasz, likely trolling, cast some doubt as to whether or not the two would see each other again), many fans were speculating that a Rayllum reunion may not happen until S5. They’ve been theorizing that the two may be apart and have their own separate journeys in S4, which could lead to Rayla finding and/or getting captured by Viren, Claudia, and Aaravos.

I don’t really think this will happen for several reasons.

1. TDP is good at making things happen and moving the plot forward quickly.

Think about past TDP seasons. Despite having only nine episodes, there’s so much that usually happens in the course of each season. There’s usually several conflicts that are set up near the beginning, and many of them end up being resolved by the season’s end.

Here’s just a few:

Season One

Conflict: The gang begins the trek to return the egg, only to have it fall in icy water. They find out it’s dying. Resolution: They save the egg by hatching it.

Conflict: Rayla’s binding won’t come off and keeps tightening. Resolution: Zym pulls the binding off and saves Rayla’s hand.

Season Two

Conflict: Callum wants to learn primal magic, but is told humans can’t. Resolution: Callum connects to the sky arcanum.

Conflict: Callum learns Harrow has died and has to find a way to tell Ezran, and deal with his own grief. Resolution: Callums reads Harrow’s note and comes to terms with his grief. Ezran finds out about his father and returns to Katolis.

Conflict: Ezran is trying to teach Zym to fly. Resolution: Ezran uses their mental connection, and Zym learns how to fly.

Season Three:

Conflict: Callum and Rayla are now in Xadia and need to return Zym to his mother. We find out that the Dragon Queen is dying and has fallen into a deep sleep. Resolution: They succeed in returning Zym and the Dragon Queen awakens. Conflict: Ezran is struggling with the burden of the crown. He’s usurped by Viren and thrown in prison. Resolution: Ezran is freed from prison and reunites with Callum and Rayla, becoming integral in the fight against Viren and returning Zym. He regains the crown after Viren’s supposed death. Conflict: Soren is questioning his loyalty to his father. Resolution: Soren decides to free Ezran from prison, leave his father, and assist the gang in their fight against Viren’s troops.

If season 4 follows this model, and Callum and Rayla’s separation is one of the major conflicts they open with - which it likely will be - then it’s also likely to be one of the conflicts that is resolved (at least in some way) by the season’s end, if not sooner.

I don’t really see the creator’s dragging out their reunion for yet another season, given their track record with previous seasons and how a lot of the conflicts tend to be resolved within nine episodes.

2. There’s going to be a timeskip after Through the Moon.

We already knew there was going to be a timeskip between S3 and S4, but the creators have also confirmed that there will be a timeskip between TTM and S4 as well. Given how the comic ends with Rayla leaving to Callum to find Viren, this means that the show will pick up some time after she’s set out to do that.

Now, if the creators had planned to keep Rayla and Callum apart for all of S4, what would be the point of this timeskip? They could’ve very easily turned the events of TTM (or at least the ending) into the first S4 episode, which would set up the direction of the season with Callum and Rayla going on separate journeys. But they didn’t do that. They tell us why Rayla left in the comic and THEN they give us a timeskip going into S4.

What’s the point of that? To give the characters time to be apart (offscreen) and then bring the audience up to speed on what has happened during that time. Setting the stage for a reunion, perhaps? It seems very likely that this is the case.

3. There’s potential S4 hints in Callum’s Spellbook.

Many fans have speculated about the importance of the information found in Callum’s Spellbook. In it, he mentions wanting to spend a year traveling through Xadia. Could this be what he’s been up to during the timeskip - looking for Rayla in Xadia? 

Beyond this, I have an interesting theory relating to the descriptive words used for each of the primal sources, which I may decide to elaborate on further in the future. Here’s the gist of it though.

The book has a page for each of the six primal sources. They’re in the following order: Moon, Sky, Sun, Earth, Ocean, and Stars. This also appears to be order of each of the “books” of the series. S1 is Moon, S2 is Sky, S3 is Sun, and we know S4 is Earth. I don’t believe this is on accident.

Following this logic, I believe there’s a direct correlation between the words used to describe each of the sources and the major themes and events of each season. For example, the words associated with Moon are illusion, death, deception, etc. All of these are major themes of S1 - Lujanne’s illusions, Harrow’s’ death, Viren’s deception, etc. This association seems to hold true for the other seasons as well. (It’s not perfect, of course. Some of the words for Sky magic don’t seem to correlate to what happens in the season and are more descriptive of the magic itself. But on the whole it seems to hold true.)

With this in mind, let’s look at some of the words for Earth:

Strength Stubbornness Patience Growth Healing If my theory is correct, these will likely be major themes for S4. I can see all of these playing into a potential Rayllum reunion / reconciliation. Rayla thinks she’s being strong by going after Viren herself, but Callum sees it as stubbornness. He’ll need to have patience with her as she learns that she cannot do this on her own. She’ll experience character growth, and their relationship will begin healing.

At least that’s how I see it through my Rayllum shipper goggles. But this makes a lot of sense, and if true, seems to point to a S4 Rayllum reunion and reconciliation as a distinct possibility.

4. Viren / Aaravos may not be the main antagonists of S4.

So far, we’ve only seen Viren as the main antagonist of TDP (with Aaravos pulling the strings, of course.) But this is just for the first three seasons. The first of the three overarching stories that will make up TDP. The creators have confirmed that S4 and S5 will be its own arc, and S6 and S7 will be its own.

So what if there’s another antagonist for S4 and S5?

We know that Sol Regem will be reappearing. Many are speculating that there might be potential conflict between Janai and her unnamed brother that we’ve been told exists. (The creators have declined giving any information on him, so we can assume he’ll play a role in upcoming seasons.) We also know that Rex Igneous (the Earth dragon from Callum’s Spellbook) will likely make an appearance this season. And Zym will still very much be a part of the show.

So what if a separate antagonist rears their head for S4 and S5? Resolving this new threat may be what brings Callum and Rayla together again. I could see her putting her search for Viren on hold to deal with a bigger, more tangible threat, especially if it involves Zym or the peace that they fought so hard to achieve. It’s possible that she won’t find any leads on Viren. And maybe Aaravos has decided to stay in the shadows, waiting for the right time to strike. This could set him up as the main antagonist we know he’ll likely be for S6 and S7.

We’ll likely still see him, Viren and Claudia, but they may not be as integral to the central conflict as we assume they’ll be. If that’s the case, then a Rayllum reunion makes logical sense from a story perspective, as it gives Rayla the opportunity to pause her quest in a way that makes sense for her character.

5. Rayla being captured / coined may not happen, or may not happen so early in the show.

Many fans have speculated that Rayla will find Viren, attempt to fight him, and get captured and/or coined as a result. They imagine that this could be how S4 ends, and Callum either discovers this or is left unaware until their reunion in S5. 

This is an interesting theory, but it assumes that Rayla will be successful in finding Viren. What if she isn’t? What leads does she really have? Viren, Aaravos and Claudia will likely need to regroup after their defeat at the Storm Spire. They’ll be staying in hiding for awhile, which will make them hard to track. Who’s to say she’ll even know where to look, outside of wandering aimlessly through Xadia?

Everyone is also assuming that Rayla being coined is inevitable. But this predictability is not what the writers are known for. What if she doesn’t get coined? What if no one gets coined? What if Callum does?

Even if she does eventually get captured and coined, why would this happen so early in the show? That seems more like a S6 or S7 event, as it’s a very emotional, high-stakes conflict that would likely lead into the reveal of Runaan and Rayla’s parents being alive. I doubt the writers would want to play those cards so early.

If S4 Rayla doesn’t find Viren and isn’t captured, then what does that leave? Her wandering Xadia aimlessly? Not likely. A reunion with Callum is the only other plotline that makes sense here. 

There’s probably more reasons, but that’s all I have for now. If I write any more, I’ll link a part 2 to this post.

[lily-lilou]

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

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

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

Well, take a look at this:

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

edit: 

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

2nd part. What is “life-magic”?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Dark magic, you’ll said.

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

…

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

3rd part: what is “love-magic?

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

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

On the symbol, we can see two things:

1st, all the primal magic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But for now, what about love-magic?

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

But with love-magic, it does.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Her contact with Villads changed her

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

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

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

Conclusion for this part :

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

And so? Can a Xadian use love-magic?

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

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

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

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

Anyway!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Anyway, that's it for the moonfam!

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

But what about dark magic?

Last part: Dark magic in the magical system.

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

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

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

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

dark magic also uses primal magic.

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

An additional thought about Dark magic :

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

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

So I pushed the analysis further:

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

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

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

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

I think it could be this way for two reasons:

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

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

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

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

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

I hope you had fun to read this :D

Now, to the kitchen! I’m Hungry!

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

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

[beautifulterriblequeen]

I headcanon that sky mages do “moving meditations” (like what they do for yoga and some martial arts). Maybe that explains why they do acrobatics and dances.

I do yoga as a moving meditation. I did some this morning. I run affirmations in my head while I move through my poses. It’s really nice, does me good, great way to start the day. Especially a really bad day, when you know you’re going into some kind of battle and you need to be certain of your balance and your footing and your mentality first.

I wonder if all the elven races meditate? Maybe in ways that are not all that different, down deep? The way Sky magic works is to be still at the center of motion, the eye of the storm. A Skywing would want to be chill and calm at the center of any kata or yoga poses they might be doing. That’s both Sky and your standard meditative mindset.

But that just makes me think of Lujanne and Runaan, and how Moonshadows meditate, because, check this headcanon out: They sit off the ground because they’re being like the planet, feeling the Moon itself circle down below them before sunset. 

In TTM, Allen explains to the kids that Lujanne meditates most of the day of a full moon. Runaan spends at least some portion of the daylight hours meditating, too. Getting all aligned with the moon and stuff, I guess. 

But there is a difference between Sky and Moon: though the elves may both chill at the center of movement, the speed they do it with is very different. Skywings are quick and agile. I can see them doing aerobatics or even earthbound katas and considering them properly meditative and relaxing. Meanwhile, Moonshadows have a super slow moon to track, and they can sit still and feel it move around them instead of having to coax it with their own motion.

The slow orbit of the moon and the vagaries of the wind are two very very different entities! These might possibly be the two far ends of the speed spectrum when it comes to meditation, unless Aaravos meditates too. He probably uses a cosmic scale for his. Heck, maybe he spent most of the past 300 years meditating, lining up his thoughts with the next planetary alignment or something.

Well, I got a bit distracted with various meditation forms there. I’m gonna be curious if we get to see anything like that in the show itself, because it could tie in with a natural link to how one’s arcanum works. If all of the elves have some kind of centering behavior, and it’s linked to understanding their arcanum, then that could be very interesting indeed as far as how easy or difficult it might be for humans to also connect to various primal sources.

[inventors-fair]

Pseudo Commentary pt. 2

~~~

@nayabattlemage - Ethereal Nightmare / Celestial

*FEWER than five enchantments. I really wish the wording wasn’t so awkward on that ability, because I mean, I like it? I get it? But it’s just so darn awkward and I wish it could be worded more like Metalcraft or something. As for the card itself? Definitely good, I love it. With whatever card creator you’re using, because it squishes stuff, this is one of the rare cases where I’d say DON’T use flavor text.

@nemat0n - Scrapheap Savant / Innovate

So, with Innovate - is it ‘artifactfall,’ or is it specifically entering/sacrificing? I saw some stuff going around the Discord and I wasn’t sure what was happening there. That said, I really like that second possibility. If I saw other cards with it and knew for sure, then I think that could be really cool to use in a set. Honestly, it’d also be cool to have it just be on artifacts that when they enter you can sac other artifacts to innovate. This has potential!

@nine-effing-hells - Giddy Aerialist / Epiphany

I’m 100% sure that things don’t “enter the hand.” They’re “put into your hand,” “returned to the hand,” but that’s specifically different from drawing and drawing wouldn’t trigger Epiphany. Maybe you should keep it to drawing. As-is, the wording doesn’t mesh with Magic rules.

@ozthearistocrat - Dormant Library / Arcanum

Those abilities should be switched, I think? “As long as X, Dormant Library has Y.” The card itself is fine. Arcanum is still one of those mechanical callbacks that Kamigawa tried and it wasn’t great then either. Five or six is probably the sweet spot, and even then, it’s a slow-down mechanic that I personally love and that I know wouldn’t be great in a lot of games because it discourages players from casting spells.

@pretentiouslimericks - Blind Vulture / Scavenger

So between this and Morbid... This mechanic needs refinement to come into its own. As-is, it’s a fine card, but I’d need to see more to really “get it.” Hm... What if every Scavenger card gained you an amount of life? Or buffed, like this card, and had a separate ability? Just like Innovate above, I know that this mechanic has potential. Give it its own life.

@shakeszx - Gloomwarren Aggressor / Kindred

Reminiscent of Kinship, in the tribal theme. This mechanic is fine, but this card is a little too powerful for my taste. Considering how easy it is to get a hasty Goblin army, giving ALL your creatures a buff ON a creature with haste AND giving them menace potentially EACH combat from turn THREE onwards? Tooooo pushed, my friend.

@snugz - Quick Reflexes / Sagacity

Mechanic is fine, you’re on the right track, but this card is pushed as hell as well, especially at common. Cheap double strikers, infect, whoof. +5/+5 at instant speed for two mana... I feel that this can be adjusted.

@strangestquarkwave - That Which Hides Below / Frightening

Interesting... I feel that this card could be tweaked to seven mana, personally, but Frightening is a potentially fine mechanic that keeps your opponents on their toes that can also happen naturally. I don’t like a high as-fan of discard, but it’s fine on maybe three cards in this set. Hm, maybe “one or fewer,” and give a more helpless feeling? “Frightening” as a word isn’t the most...exciting, but it gets the point across. And also, this really, really, really didn’t need to be an Eldrazi... Eldrich Moon was the only set that really did Eldrazi well.

@top-hat-the-cactus - Invigorated Recruit / Healthy

Fine mechanic, fine card name, kinda bland mechanic name, really bland flavor. I’m going to be a bit of a prick for a second, but... The artist credit. I can see that it’s Rob Joseph. That’s much easier to read than a DA link, man. Am I being pedantic? I gotta hold you guys to some kind of standard here. Regardless, this card could have been spiced up just a touch.

~~~

Tomorrow’s contest will be different because, well, I’ll be taking a break! We have a special guest leading the faire. Who could it be? We’ll find out soon.

[raayllum]

rayllum fanbabies

Rayla and Callum get married when he’s twenty-three and she’s twenty-four, a good four years after being permanently settled in Xadia with somewhat frequent trips to Katolis. They have Rae very close to the ten year anniversary of when they first met, the following year.

Rae is more silver haired than white, he has his father’s disposition and none of his confidence. He has Rayla’s eyes, his father’s scarf, and the making of a moon mage. His horns are slightly smaller and his ears are a little less pointed, but they move more. Part of his lack of self confidence comes from being one of the first half-Elf, half-human children publicly in centuries. He grew up with a lot of staring, especially whenever he would be travelling with his parents.

Juni follows three or four years later. She’s darker haired with Rayla’s eyes again, even smaller horns but regularly pointed elven eyes. Confident and exuberant, she’s the opposite of her brother and follows in her mother’s footsteps as an excellent fighter—without any of the seriousness, although she is perpetually disappointed she’s not intrinsically linked to an arcanum and struggles more than her father did with connecting. 

Time for some headcanons:

The one time Rae will be fierce is when it comes to defending or protecting his baby sister. Most of their adventures entail her dragging him into them, citing his moon magic as good protection. 

Juni feels a little out of place with her fellow Moonshadow fighters, as she can’t participate in their full moon training the way the rest of them can.

Therefore, she and her brother are very close, bound by their experience of being some of the only mixed kids they know, and from having Famous Parents.

Rae helps his father teach magic classes to elves and humans alike about how to connect to an arcanum and control it. In his teens he starts working towards connecting to the sky arcanum as well.

He’s very flustered around a pretty human girl in one of the classes and Juni teases him endlessly about it.

Juni ends up being taller than him and also teases him endlessly about that.

Despite his softer disposition, which could have made him an easy target for tougher elven children in their village to bully, Juni got a very scary reputation early on, so no one messed with Rae too much.

Both kids are incredibly close with each of their parents. With emotional issues they’ll both normally go to their father, but when they need advice or some encouragement they’ll normally go to their mother.

Rae eventually leaves home to work in the palace alongside his Uncle Ezran as a High Mage, at least temporarily. Juni’s eventual job is working as part of the Dragon Guard.