#it could have been good... men are such untalented writers... harrow could have been such a good character

[krytus]

how would u fix the show!

thank you for this completely unprompted question

okay so first i would literally Start w harrow and viren killing thunder the dragon. because that is the inciting incident. of the show. like throw out all the exposition and Show us the conflict between humans and elves. that s3 flashback scene could work as an introduction scene with some tweaking. harrow kills the dragon and hes like yayyy revenge but then viren pushes. the first thing viren should do on screen is manipulate his best friend into doing something terrible. prologue over.

skip a few days forward whateverrr introduce the princes. flesh our their relationship w their dad. maybe the first thing he does when he gets back from his Murder is tell them he did it for their mother. maybe he's acting a bit different now a bit distant. but the relationship between harrow and his sons should be like. actually thematically important? instead of. not.

harrow tries to shield his sons from the truth of what he did he tries to be the same man but theres a hint of that, my god what have i done? he did something terrible and bold. have his people be like. happy their queen is avenged but also like. expecting retaliation. compare killing thunder to humans first learning dark magic. great power heavy price. viren being like literallyyyy dont worry about it. elf racist. god i would make viren so elf racist but couch it in like. he wants what was taken from them -- positions himself as the avenger of humanity the way harrow avenged sarai. what we're doing is right. they started this. etc etc. dont make all the adult characters so fucking stupid and useless. have harrow face some friction from his advisors/councilors. but he's still the king. oh and throw in his notions of wanting to be a fair + just king. how do his actions fit into that childish dream? they dont. facing his flaws.

anyways okay all that happens. one, two episodes max we get to know the human side of the conflict. and thennn stinger for the end of that first arc is well. elves r done being sad its time to get revengeeee. instead of a group assassination, its just rayla and runaan. two person team bc strength isnt in numbers its a stealth mission. sneak in slaughter their targets get back. an eye for an eye. give rayla that motivation of wanting to avenge her cowardly parents/their failure. runaan being like this isnt a childs game this is for serious. and rayla being like yeah im not a kid + wanting to prove herself too. okay two man team we can still throw in rayla being unable to kill one guy. and that kinda ruins the mission. now theres tension. who do you root for? no ones doing the right thing. theyre all being terrible.

and then maybe the princes have a fight w their father their king. callum not wanting to seem ungrateful for all he's been given but ezran thinking what his father did was wrong. see he doesnt have that connection w his mother he was a baby when she died. but still being his mother's son and like she wouldnt have wanted you to do that. in the binary world of good and evil that exists in a ten year old's head, killing someone for something as abstract as revenge is evil. especially if you develop his bond w animals over humans.

okay so major turning point. rayla still sneaks into the palace alone runaan breaks away. the princes can still run away w her -- ezran being the one whos like. our dad did something wrong and i want to fix it. callum coming along to protect his brother. they leave Knowing how its going to destroy their father but that relationships tainted now. hes not the man they thought he was. but theyre going to go to the elves and prove that not all humans are bad. woefully childish dream, like wanting to be a good and just king.

anyways ok so the princes disappear. runaan fails and gets captured. viren realizes the egg is gone and who likely took it. urges harrow to find them bc he wants his prize back. he has plans. harow being like yeah obvs im sending my best to get my boys back.

okay and then you knowww. but big thing for me. for ME. is developing the fallout between viren and harrow because viren Wants the war. he needs the war. he needs to prove he is special and right. and harrow realizing he made a mistake. he chose death over life. becoming increasingly desperate to get his sons back. but at the end of it, he decides against escalation. he trusts his boys. he trusts their dreams.

and THERE. there. viren betrays him. harrow is going to do the right thing and viren wont allow him to be weak. and harrows like treason? you would kill your king? and virens like oh youre no use to me dead. i need you to see i was right + puts him in a coin (explicitly gives him a fate worse than death) and goes on trying to start a war w xadia. there. we have manipulator viren heroic harrow w agency a sense of urgency for the prince's mission and a conflict that's not easy to peg into good guys and bad guys. that took me what? a day to think of. tdp should have been good should have been nottt bad. amen